100 years on: exploring Agatha Christie's life and work

Caring for Agatha Christie's collection

With your help, we care for Greenway in Devon, Agatha's beloved holiday home. Agatha and her family would spend summer and Christmas holidays at Greenway, relaxing by the river, playing croquet, and reading her latest mystery to their guests.

The Greenway estate was gifted to the Trust 20 years ago in 2000, but Agatha’s family continued to live in the house until 2005. In 2005 Agatha’s grandson, Mathew Prichard gifted the house and contents to us so that everyone had the chance to explore Agatha’s life and glimpse many of her prized possessions, including artefacts from her travels, family momentos, and first editions of her novels.

Who was Agatha Christie?

Agatha was born in Torquay, Devon in 1890, and was educated largely by her father. She first began writing detective fiction when she worked with the Voluntary Aid Detachment in a Red Cross Hospital during the First World War – this was the beginning of the work Agatha became most known for.

During her lifetime, she wrote over 60 detective novels, bringing to life iconic characters such as the eccentric Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, and the seemingly unsuspecting golden age detective Miss Marple.

Agatha weaved together internationally known stories, such as ‘The Murder of Roger Ackroyd’ (1926), and captivating plays, such as ‘The Mousetrap’ (1952), that would firmly secure her status as a canonical figure in the history of detective fiction. In fact, 'The Mousetrap' set a world record for the longest running play in the world.

Thanks to your support, we look after many precious books and manuscripts and care for the former homes of famous writers, playwrights and poets poets, including Samuel Coleridge, Vita Sackville-West, Beatrix Potter and Thomas Hardy, to name a few. Some of these places even inspired their work, including Greenway which featured as the scene of a crime in Christie's novel, 'Dead Man's Folly'.

Sometimes in life all you need is a comfy corner to relax in and unwind with a good book. Our online shop has everything you need to create the perfect reading nook in your home or garden. What's more, 100 per cent of profits support the work we do to care for the nation’s nature, beauty and history for everyone, for ever.