National Trust Greenway Guidebook

Nestled in a sub-tropical garden overlooking the River Dart, Greenway has an exceptional and enviable location.

It certainly caught the eye of Agatha Christie, who knew the area as a child and, having made her name as a world-famous crime-writer, made it her holiday home.

Greenway was the family's retreat, far from public life. Her grandson, Mathew Prichard who has provided the guidebook's foreword, remembers visits to Greenway usually took place - when she had just finished writing her book, so it was family time; or in Agatha's words, "We do exactly as we like in this house."

This included entertaining, playing the piano and reading, and delighting in the setting, playing croquet and clock golf.

Max and Agatha were enthusiastic collectors and the fruits of their labours are proudly displayed throughout the house.

Greenway now stands as a near complete echo of those leisurely days and a testament to why Agatha Christie described it as the "loveliest place in the world - it quite takes my breath away."

About the authors:

This guidebook is written by Jo Moore who worked for 21 years for the National Trust, her last post being Curator for Cornwall. When she left in 2011 she became Curator for Wheal Martyn, the china clay museum just outside St Austell in Cornwall, and, in 2015, Collections Coordinator for the Cornwall Museums Partnership. Jo also works part-time in a second-hand and antiquarian bookshop in Fowey, near her home in Cornwall.

Simon Akeroyd is the Gardens Manager for the National Trust English Riviera portfolio in Devon. He has previously managed gardens at National Trust Polesden Lacey and RHS Wisley and Harlow Carr. He has written 12 gardening books including The Good Gardener, Shrubs and Small Trees and Vegetables for Gourmet Gardeners, and regularly writes for national gardening magazines.