Robyn writes: Had an excellent day today! We all woke up at around 7.30 to note that it was a much more promising outlook than the day before. The usual cloud around and even some light showers, but not the all-enveloping cloud of yesterday, thankfully. We'd bought our tickets for the Greenway vintage tour bus yesterday (12.50 pounds each) - had originally planned to go by the ferry but the lady at the Information Centre said that it only went if weather conditions were favourable. Given the wind and rain of the past day or so, we decided to lock in the bus while we had the chance! The bus was due to leave from outside the "Golden Palms" on the esplanade (a 'casino' - casinos always seem to be quite glamourous in Australia but here there a lot which are little more than an amusement arcade with an 18+ section! This was one of the distinctly unglamourous ones!) We were ready and out the door quite early (around 9ish) so had time to have a bit of a wander around the town area before presenting ourselves at the bus stop.
Finally, it arrived - a 1947 vintage bus from Plymouth which has been pressed into service for the Agatha Christie tours. It is beautifully done up but still very bumpy and shaky as old buses are wont to be! Great fun, and the driver gave us a running commentary as we bounced and rattled past local landmarks, especially those relating to Agatha Christie's life. It took us about 45 minutes to reach her Devon holiday home, Greenway. Because we're members of the National Trust, we got in for free. It's a beautiful old house on the banks of the River Dart. There's been a house there since the 1500s and of course it has been owned by several families in that time. Agatha and her second husband, the archaeologist Max Mallowan, bought it in 1938 and it was their holiday home for the rest of their lives. Her daughter Rosalind and her husband Anthony then lived there until they died about 10 years ago. The family gave it to the National Trust in 2002 and it's been open to the public since 2009. To an Agatha Christie fan such as myself, it was sheer heaven!
The house is set up as it would have been in the fifties when the family was visiting, and of course is full of memorabilia and family portraits. The views out of the windows looking towards the Dart are just beautiful. It's in the middle of many acres of land and has some beautiful gardens around it as well. Glen and Carol spent most of their time looking around the gardens - they reported that they were inhabited by robins, and even got a photo or two for me! I of course made a beeline for the house, and Lex and I spent ages in there looking at all of the collections that the family had built up over the years. Then we had time to head down towards the boat house and battery. Both of these have been used in the last few years in the "Poirot" TV series, so I was thrilled to be able to see them in real life.
At the Battery - a scene from "Dead Man's Folly" was filmed here
Carol's photo of a robin
Overall, I had a wonderful few hours there and selected myself a few souvenirs from the shop. Then at 1.15 we all assembled at the bus again and bounced our way back into Torquay. We'd decided to visit Torre Abbey so had a lateish lunch in a pub on the way, then walked to the abbey. Here we were a bit disconcerted to find that admission was 7.50 each (that's about $14 Australian) and it wasn't affiliated with either English Heritage or National Trust, both of which we and Glen belong to. We felt this was a bit steep for a little abbey no-one much had ever heard of, so contented ourselves with walking around it and the Spanish barn nearby (so called because several hundred Spanish Armada sailors were held prisoner in it after they were captured by Sir Francis Drake) and then walked home along the beach (sand! they had sand!) and up the hill to Babbacombe, our unit.
An immediate cup of tea / coffee was called for, then Lex and Glen decided to venture out in search of a pint or two (Jail Ale!) in a nearby pub down the road (another Weatherspoons pub - The Green Ginger) before a trip to Tesco for extra milk. Carol and I declined to go anywhere that involved walking and hills and flopped in a heap! They were home for tea a bit after 7. For once there was a feast of TV viewing (well, for me anyway!) - a Poirot (most appropriate) followed by Lewis. As the TV here has usually been worse than that offered on Australian free to air, this was a real bonus. I'd intended to do some packing but that all got put off until tomorrow...it's been a big day!
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