On the Agatha Christie Trail in Torquay, Devon

The Locations that Inspired the World's Best-Selling Crime Writer

Sep 30, 2009

The most famous mystery author in the world was born and grew up in Torquay in Devon, and the Agatha Christie Mile is a tour of the town that visits sites that she knew.

Although the house in Torquay in which Agatha Christie was born in 1890 no longer exists, there are many sites and locations around the town centre of interest to her millions of readers and fans. The Agatha Christie Mile is a guided or self-guided walking tour of Torquay that links the locations, providing an insight into the people and places that influenced the young Agatha Christie.

Torquay Museum

Here an Agatha Christie Gallery opened in 1990, showing the life and times of the Queen of Crime. On display are lots of personal photos loaned by the Christie family, original manuscripts and her 'secret notebooks', some of her clothes, costumes worn by Joan Hickson as Miss Marple, and many first editions of the author's work. Of especial interest is the text book The Art of Dispensing, which Agatha Christie used when she trained and qualified as a chemist, giving her an insight into poisons and chemicals that few authors have. Little wonder that poison was her favourite method of dispatching a victim.

Beacon Cove in Torquay

It was in this tiny cove next to the Living Coasts exhibition where the young Agatha Christie, about 8-9 years old, would come to bathe in a place reserved for the ladies of Torquay. In those days it had rather more sand than it does today, and was lined with beach huts in which the ladies could change. Only one man was allowed on the beach, an elderly man who pushed the beach huts into the water so the ladies could walk directly into the sea without being seen. One day, according to Agatha Christie's autobiography, she almost drowned while swimming here and was rescued by the old man in his rowing boat.

The Torquay Pavilion

It was in front of the Pavilion after attending a Wagner concert there that Agatha's first husband, Archie Christie, proposed to her. It was during her marriage to Archie that she published, in 1920, her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles. She and Archie were divorced in 1928 after she discovered he had been having an affair.

Still one of Torquay's main hotels, the 4-star Grand Hotel has an Agatha Christie plaque on the wall outside. This commemorates the fact that this is where the author spent the fist night of her honeymoon with her first husband Archie, after their wedding on Christmas Eve in 1914.

Torquay's Princess Pier

The pier opened in 1900 and is where Agatha Christie came roller-skating, as a photograph in the Torquay Museum confirms.

These are just a few of the Agatha Christie sights that can be seen on the Agatha Christie Mile tour. Although the tour can be self-guided by using a leaflet (see below), it is much more entertaining to take a guided tour with one of the local Agatha Christie experts and historians, who make Agatha Christie's Torquay come alive.

The Agatha Christie Mile: Practical Information

A leaflet for a self-guided tour of the Agatha Christie Mile is available to visitors from the Torquay Tourist Information Centre on Vaughan Parade in Torquay (tel: 01803 211211‎ or 0870 707 0010‎). Walking tours with an Agatha Christie expert guide can also be booked here. Plans are in hand to also introduce an audio tour of Agatha Christie's Torquay.

The Agatha Christie Festival 2010

The perfect time to take a tour of Agatha Christie's Torquay is during the annual Agatha Christie Festival. This runs from 12th-19th September 2010.

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