Agatha Christie grew up near Torquay and the lush South Devon countryside often featured in her novels. In 1938 she bought Greenway on the banks of the river Dart near Paignton which was to stay in the family for more than sixty years.
It dates back to the seventeenth century and the enormous wild riverside garden has counted Thomas Elton and Humphrey Repton among its landscapers. Agatha Christie's daughter and son in law, Rosalind and Anthony Hicks, still live in the house but the family donated the wild riverside garden to the National Trust four years ago.
Anna Egan went down to Greenway to find out how the gardens inspired Agatha Christie.
