The English Riviera Zip
The English Riviera Visitor Centre offers free booklets to follow the Agatha Christie Literary Trail. Visit the scenes of fictional crimes, such as Churston railway station in THE ABC MURDERS. Don’t miss beautiful Burgh Island, where Christie loved to stay in the exclusive Art-Deco hotel, writing AND THEN THERE WERE NONE and EVIL UNDER THE SUN. Part of the English Riviera, Torquay is famed for its sandy beaches and palm trees and has been attracting visitors with its charms for hundreds of years. So much to see and do in the area including the underground caves at Kents Caverns, the 800-year-old Torre Abbey, the Living Coasts Marine Zoo and Aquarium, Babbacombe Model Village as well.
Salcombe: picture (c) Jamie West
Mystery on the English Riviera
Seaside resorts, lovely beaches, literary history: the English Riviera. And don’t forget the palm trees.
Does this sound unlikely? Britain is famous for rain and grey skies. But Torbay in England’s West Country deserves its Riviera nickname. This beautiful borough, in the county of Devon, offers glorious scenery, unusual events and activities for all ages, along with warm weather.
Devon is home to delightful villages, coastal walks, and, of course, cream teas. These quintessentially English ingredients are the recipe for a perfect holiday. The added spice of mystery and intrigue is provided by the Queen of Crime herself, Dame Agatha Christie.
The Queen of Crime
The celebrated crime writer created two of literature’s most illustrious detectives, Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. Christie’s novels, inspired by the landscape and inhabitants of the Riviera, have been translated into more than 45 languages. Her ingenious plots still thrill readers and audiences: her books have sold two billion copies worldwide, making her the best-selling novelist of all time. She also wrote plays, short stories, romantic novels and an autobiography.
Christie’s life was as mysterious as her books, and the Riviera offers several ways to investigate. Torquay Museum hosts Britain’s only permanent exhibit about Dame Agatha. The story of her eventful life is told through photographs and personal belongings.
Imperial Hotel, Torquay
It’s no surprise that Christie set so many murder mysteries here when you learn what experience she had. Walk along Princess Pier, where she liked to roller-skate. The Agatha Christie Mile also takes in the Grand Hotel, where she spent her honeymoon, the Imperial Hotel, which appears in several novels, and Beacon Cove, where she nearly drowned. It was through volunteering during the First World War that she learned a lot about medicines – and poisons.
To celebrate the 125th birthday of the Queen of Crime, the International Agatha Christie Festival in September 2015 set Torquay’s Torre Abbey buzzing with mysteries. Fans attended readings, discussions, trips and of course murder mystery evenings.
The Abbey’s impressive buildings have witnessed history, from Spanish Armada prisoners to visits from Queen Elizabeth II. In the children’s garden, you can touch, and taste medieval plants. Take care in the Potent Plants Garden, which includes many poisons and antidotes used in Christie’s mysteries.
The English Riviera Visitor Centre offers free booklets to follow the Agatha Christie Literary Trail. Visit the scenes of fictional crimes, such as Churston railway station in THE ABC MURDERS. Don’t miss beautiful Burgh Island, where Christie loved to stay in the exclusive Art-Deco hotel, writing AND THEN THERE WERE NONE and EVIL UNDER THE SUN. Perhaps she listened to conversations over dinner, inventing her plots.
Metronomy The English Riviera Zip
Greenway House was another inspiration. Given to the National Trust by Christie’s daughter in 1999, the house has been luxuriously renovated. The Agatha Christie Experience delivers you to Christie’s summer residence by World War II ship or vintage 1950s bus. You can imagine Poirot solving mysteries beside the tennis courts.
Green and pleasant land
Along its 35km of spectacular coastline, the Riviera has three unique towns: Torquay, Paignton and Brixham. In the 19th Century, the arrival of trains transformed these fishing towns into fashionable resorts, with the motto ‘Health and Happiness’. First popular with Navy officers, they became favourite destinations for wealthy Victorians – and later for those learning English as a foreign language.
Torquay scores highly in TripAdvisor’s Travellers’ Choice awards. For entertainment, choose between the Princess Theatre’s West End shows and comedians, and the casinos, nightclubs and party boats. Recover next day with the amazing sea views in Royal Terrace Gardens.
Paignton has award-winning beaches, excellent pubs and the Palace Avenue Theatre. Brixham’s harbour provides seafood for top restaurants, with an arts and crafts market on Saturdays.
Beyond are the South Hams, a succession of atmospheric villages and dramatic bays. Babbacombe Bay offers the quintessential British holiday, with sand, sea, and fish and chips. Kingsbridge, a lively market town, is also a centre for water sports; you may learn the story of the South Hams in the Cookworthy Museum. Sleepy Salcombe comes to life when London families rent summer retreats round the bay’s Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Further afield, Dartington’s summer festival is part of a year-round arts programme. Totnes is a focus for alternative living: locals recently fought to keep a famous coffee corporation off their High Street. The nearest cities have much to offer: Plymouth’s waterfront has been regenerated into a thriving centre of tourism, while Exeter has a beautiful cathedral and top university.
Beside the seaside
The tranquil seas offer the best in water sports for beginners and experts, with sailing competitions throughout the summer. August attracts sailors from around the world, with the Dartmouth Regatta and the famous Fastnet race.
Surfing is good here. The calm waters are great for beginners, though wetsuits are recommended. You can see deep sea fish with scuba diving lessons, or catch them on an organised fishing trip.
The more adventurous can try water-skiing, jet-skiing, wind-surfing and kite-surfing. Calmer options include paddle board, pedalo, or old-fashioned swimming.
Walk in wildlife
As well as the sea, you can discover history and treasure on dry land. The Attractions Passport, free from Visitor Information Points, offers savings all over South Devon.
Paignton Zoo has rhinos, gorillas and lions, as you would expect. But have you ever seen a bongo? (It’s a rare African antelope.) The Crocodile Swamp houses snakes, turtles and fish, amid exotic plants.
If you like your history to be wild, you should visit ‘Pirate Thursday’ with the Brixham Buccaneers. These shows bring pirates to life through games, workshops and fancy dress; and it’s all free.
Going further back in time, discover the Riviera’s geological history at Geoplay Park Paignton – without any history books. Experience the Devonian and Permian Periods with trilobite rides, giant climbing nets and water play areas where children dig sand channels and build dams. Teenagers can behave like Neanderthals on the Quaternary zone’s climbing logs and zip wires.
If you prefer fossils, head for Torquay’s Dinosaur World. Watch as prehistory comes to life around you. Are you brave enough to touch the giant spiders and Triceratops?
Kents Cavern is a labyrinth of spectacular caves, where Roman soldiers left offerings to the gods and the oldest human fragment in Europe was found. Actors will take you back to the Stone Age; but take a coat, as it is cold underground.
For a more tranquil day out, explore the coastal walks and cycle routes. Berry Head National Nature Reserve offers seaside walks, wildlife and Napoleonic forts. Overbecks House, in Salcombe, is another hidden paradise. Inventor Otto Overbeck’s subtropical gardens are enriched with workshops, trails and quizzes.
The Babbacombe Cliff Railway, built in 1926, still brings thousands to Oddicombe Beach through some of Britain’s most breathtaking scenery.
Visit the art studios in Cockington, a village with thatched roofs. The Seashore Centre in Paignton present marine life for all ages, free. To see a working organic farm, visit the pigs, cows and sheep of Occombe Farm. At Fast Rabbit Farm, the gardens are beautiful in every season of the year, with glorious flowers and streams flowing through Strawberry Valley.
Overall, the Riviera deserves its reputation. Come and enjoy the fine food, relaxed atmosphere, stunning bays and artistic energy. The remarkable gardens, where you find olives, lemons, figs, and the ugniberry – next year’s superfruit – would be enough to earn its Mediterranean nickname.
INFORMATION
Getting Here
Exeter Airport is 45 minutes away.
With no motorway, the small roads are often busy, so take your time driving. Information Centres offer weekly passes for car parks around the area.
National Express run coaches from around the country.
South West Trains, First Great Western and Cross Country offer rail to Torre, Torquay and Paignton, where you can find Dartmouth Steam Railway and River Boats.
Where to stay
Relax in style at the Imperial Hotel, Torquay, with the Beauty Rooms’ sensuous skincare treatments.
If you like to sail, rent a self-catering apartment in Salcombe, where you can warm up after sailing on the magnificent estuary.
Agatha Christie fans can stay at The Weary Ploughman Inn, where they will direct you to twenty places that inspired that inspired Miss Marple and Poirot mysteries.
Buckland Tout-Saints Hotel offers impressive rooms, with luxury cream tea and three course dinner from their Market Menu.
agathachristiefestival.com
devonfarms.co.uk
Seaside Top Ten
1. Crabbing (fishing for crabs) is the British seaside tradition for children of all ages. Buy equipment in any seaside shop. Fill your bucket with water. Attach bait to the line. (Crabs love bacon.) Hold your net ready. Catch those elusive crabs. Remember: crabs need oxygen, so replace the water often and don’t catch too many. Be careful: those claws are sharp. Please be kind: throw the crabs back into the sea.
2. Neap tides: the sea can rise as much as 5m. Ask for free tide tables and don’t fall asleep on isolated beaches.
3. Award-winning beaches: Torcross, Beesands, South Sands, Soar Mill Cove and Hope Cove.
4. Sailing: rules are available at any Harbour Office. Regattas are also fun to watch from the safety of the shore: Dartmouth Royal Regatta is huge; Salcombe Town Regatta is calmer.
5. Seafood: Start Bay Inn, Torcross, and The Winking Prawn, North Sands.
6. Bantham Surf Academy.
7. Waterborn Paddle Boards, Kingsbridge, Salcombe, South Milton Sands.
8. Ferries: ferries have been a popular way to enjoy the area for centuries. Take the Rivermaid from Kingsbridge to Salcombe. Cruise downstream from Totnes. Or wait in the Ferry Boat Inn, Dittisham, to sail over to Greenway House.
9. Coast walks: the South West Coastal Path extends 630 miles (1000km) in total. Choose a gentle stroll or get equipped for spectacular explorations of Devon’s Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Download walks at southdevonaonb.com
10. Start Point Lighthouse Visitor Centre.
Land Top Ten
1. Cream tea: delicious scones with cream and jam. In Devon, it is traditional to spread the rich clotted cream before the jam.
2. Agricultural shows: Yealmpton Agricultural Show and the Teignmouth Carnival in August are highlights. Farmers’ markets offer fine local produce.
3. Dartington Arts: besides the cinema and the summer school, Dartington’s Ways with Words Festival in July attracts 5,000 visitors.
4. Kingsbridge Fair: fine food and music.
5. Plymouth Beer Festival, July.
6. Salcombe Shooting School: the natural valley makes challenges for experts or beginners; families and groups are welcome.
7. Shakespeare week: Dartmouth, August.
8. Golf: Bigbury’s seaside course is stunning
9. Blackawton Worm Charming Festival: voted Europe’s Most Unmissable Festival.
10. East Allington’s Whacky Races: dare-devil go-kart racing, with an emphasis on silliness. Profits to local charities.
Miss Marple in Torquay
‘Did you know it was-him-all along?’ asked Gwenda.
They were all three, Miss Marple, Gwenda and Giles, sitting on the terrace of the Imperial Hotel at Torquay.
‘A change of scene,’ Miss Marple had said, and Giles had agreed, would be the best thing for Gwenda. So Inspector Primer had concurred and they had driven to Torquay forthwith.
Miss Marple said in answer to Gwenda’s question, ‘Well, he did seem indicated, my dear. Although unfortunately there was nothing in the way of evidence to go upon. Just indications, nothing more.’
From SLEEPING MURDER by Agatha Christie
Salcombe: picture (c) Jamie West
Mystery on the English Riviera
Seaside resorts, lovely beaches, literary history: the English Riviera. And don’t forget the palm trees.
Does this sound unlikely? Britain is famous for rain and grey skies. But Torbay in England’s West Country deserves its Riviera nickname. This beautiful borough, in the county of Devon, offers glorious scenery, unusual events and activities for all ages, along with warm weather.
Devon is home to delightful villages, coastal walks, and, of course, cream teas. These quintessentially English ingredients are the recipe for a perfect holiday. The added spice of mystery and intrigue is provided by the Queen of Crime herself, Dame Agatha Christie.
The Queen of Crime
The celebrated crime writer created two of literature’s most illustrious detectives, Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. Christie’s novels, inspired by the landscape and inhabitants of the Riviera, have been translated into more than 45 languages. Her ingenious plots still thrill readers and audiences: her books have sold two billion copies worldwide, making her the best-selling novelist of all time. She also wrote plays, short stories, romantic novels and an autobiography.
Christie’s life was as mysterious as her books, and the Riviera offers several ways to investigate. Torquay Museum hosts Britain’s only permanent exhibit about Dame Agatha. The story of her eventful life is told through photographs and personal belongings.
Imperial Hotel, Torquay
It’s no surprise that Christie set so many murder mysteries here when you learn what experience she had. Walk along Princess Pier, where she liked to roller-skate. The Agatha Christie Mile also takes in the Grand Hotel, where she spent her honeymoon, the Imperial Hotel, which appears in several novels, and Beacon Cove, where she nearly drowned. It was through volunteering during the First World War that she learned a lot about medicines – and poisons.
To celebrate the 125th birthday of the Queen of Crime, the International Agatha Christie Festival in September 2015 set Torquay’s Torre Abbey buzzing with mysteries. Fans attended readings, discussions, trips and of course murder mystery evenings.
The Abbey’s impressive buildings have witnessed history, from Spanish Armada prisoners to visits from Queen Elizabeth II. In the children’s garden, you can touch, and taste medieval plants. Take care in the Potent Plants Garden, which includes many poisons and antidotes used in Christie’s mysteries.
The English Riviera Visitor Centre offers free booklets to follow the Agatha Christie Literary Trail. Visit the scenes of fictional crimes, such as Churston railway station in THE ABC MURDERS. Don’t miss beautiful Burgh Island, where Christie loved to stay in the exclusive Art-Deco hotel, writing AND THEN THERE WERE NONE and EVIL UNDER THE SUN. Perhaps she listened to conversations over dinner, inventing her plots.
Greenway House was another inspiration. Given to the National Trust by Christie’s daughter in 1999, the house has been luxuriously renovated. The Agatha Christie Experience delivers you to Christie’s summer residence by World War II ship or vintage 1950s bus. You can imagine Poirot solving mysteries beside the tennis courts.
Green and pleasant land
Along its 35km of spectacular coastline, the Riviera has three unique towns: Torquay, Paignton and Brixham. In the 19th Century, the arrival of trains transformed these fishing towns into fashionable resorts, with the motto ‘Health and Happiness’. First popular with Navy officers, they became favourite destinations for wealthy Victorians – and later for those learning English as a foreign language.
Torquay scores highly in TripAdvisor’s Travellers’ Choice awards. For entertainment, choose between the Princess Theatre’s West End shows and comedians, and the casinos, nightclubs and party boats. Recover next day with the amazing sea views in Royal Terrace Gardens.
Paignton has award-winning beaches, excellent pubs and the Palace Avenue Theatre. Brixham’s harbour provides seafood for top restaurants, with an arts and crafts market on Saturdays.
Beyond are the South Hams, a succession of atmospheric villages and dramatic bays. Babbacombe Bay offers the quintessential British holiday, with sand, sea, and fish and chips. Kingsbridge, a lively market town, is also a centre for water sports; you may learn the story of the South Hams in the Cookworthy Museum. Sleepy Salcombe comes to life when London families rent summer retreats round the bay’s Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Further afield, Dartington’s summer festival is part of a year-round arts programme. Totnes is a focus for alternative living: locals recently fought to keep a famous coffee corporation off their High Street. The nearest cities have much to offer: Plymouth’s waterfront has been regenerated into a thriving centre of tourism, while Exeter has a beautiful cathedral and top university.
Beside the seaside
The tranquil seas offer the best in water sports for beginners and experts, with sailing competitions throughout the summer. August attracts sailors from around the world, with the Dartmouth Regatta and the famous Fastnet race.
Surfing is good here. The calm waters are great for beginners, though wetsuits are recommended. You can see deep sea fish with scuba diving lessons, or catch them on an organised fishing trip.
The more adventurous can try water-skiing, jet-skiing, wind-surfing and kite-surfing. Calmer options include paddle board, pedalo, or old-fashioned swimming.
Walk in wildlife
As well as the sea, you can discover history and treasure on dry land. The Attractions Passport, free from Visitor Information Points, offers savings all over South Devon.
Paignton Zoo has rhinos, gorillas and lions, as you would expect. But have you ever seen a bongo? (It’s a rare African antelope.) The Crocodile Swamp houses snakes, turtles and fish, amid exotic plants.
If you like your history to be wild, you should visit ‘Pirate Thursday’ with the Brixham Buccaneers. These shows bring pirates to life through games, workshops and fancy dress; and it’s all free.
Going further back in time, discover the Riviera’s geological history at Geoplay Park Paignton – without any history books. Experience the Devonian and Permian Periods with trilobite rides, giant climbing nets and water play areas where children dig sand channels and build dams. Teenagers can behave like Neanderthals on the Quaternary zone’s climbing logs and zip wires.
If you prefer fossils, head for Torquay’s Dinosaur World. Watch as prehistory comes to life around you. Are you brave enough to touch the giant spiders and Triceratops?
Kents Cavern is a labyrinth of spectacular caves, where Roman soldiers left offerings to the gods and the oldest human fragment in Europe was found. Actors will take you back to the Stone Age; but take a coat, as it is cold underground.
For a more tranquil day out, explore the coastal walks and cycle routes. Berry Head National Nature Reserve offers seaside walks, wildlife and Napoleonic forts. Overbecks House, in Salcombe, is another hidden paradise. Inventor Otto Overbeck’s subtropical gardens are enriched with workshops, trails and quizzes.
The Babbacombe Cliff Railway, built in 1926, still brings thousands to Oddicombe Beach through some of Britain’s most breathtaking scenery.
Visit the art studios in Cockington, a village with thatched roofs. The Seashore Centre in Paignton present marine life for all ages, free. To see a working organic farm, visit the pigs, cows and sheep of Occombe Farm. At Fast Rabbit Farm, the gardens are beautiful in every season of the year, with glorious flowers and streams flowing through Strawberry Valley.
Overall, the Riviera deserves its reputation. Come and enjoy the fine food, relaxed atmosphere, stunning bays and artistic energy. The remarkable gardens, where you find olives, lemons, figs, and the ugniberry – next year’s superfruit – would be enough to earn its Mediterranean nickname.
INFORMATION
Getting Here
Exeter Airport is 45 minutes away.
With no motorway, the small roads are often busy, so take your time driving. Information Centres offer weekly passes for car parks around the area.
National Express run coaches from around the country.
South West Trains, First Great Western and Cross Country offer rail to Torre, Torquay and Paignton, where you can find Dartmouth Steam Railway and River Boats.
Where to stay
Relax in style at the Imperial Hotel, Torquay, with the Beauty Rooms’ sensuous skincare treatments.
If you like to sail, rent a self-catering apartment in Salcombe, where you can warm up after sailing on the magnificent estuary.
Agatha Christie fans can stay at The Weary Ploughman Inn, where they will direct you to twenty places that inspired that inspired Miss Marple and Poirot mysteries.
Buckland Tout-Saints Hotel offers impressive rooms, with luxury cream tea and three course dinner from their Market Menu.
agathachristiefestival.com
devonfarms.co.uk
The English Riviera Zip 10
Seaside Top Ten
1. Crabbing (fishing for crabs) is the British seaside tradition for children of all ages. Buy equipment in any seaside shop. Fill your bucket with water. Attach bait to the line. (Crabs love bacon.) Hold your net ready. Catch those elusive crabs. Remember: crabs need oxygen, so replace the water often and don’t catch too many. Be careful: those claws are sharp. Please be kind: throw the crabs back into the sea.
2. Neap tides: the sea can rise as much as 5m. Ask for free tide tables and don’t fall asleep on isolated beaches.
3. Award-winning beaches: Torcross, Beesands, South Sands, Soar Mill Cove and Hope Cove.
4. Sailing: rules are available at any Harbour Office. Regattas are also fun to watch from the safety of the shore: Dartmouth Royal Regatta is huge; Salcombe Town Regatta is calmer.
5. Seafood: Start Bay Inn, Torcross, and The Winking Prawn, North Sands.
6. Bantham Surf Academy.
7. Waterborn Paddle Boards, Kingsbridge, Salcombe, South Milton Sands.
8. Ferries: ferries have been a popular way to enjoy the area for centuries. Take the Rivermaid from Kingsbridge to Salcombe. Cruise downstream from Totnes. Or wait in the Ferry Boat Inn, Dittisham, to sail over to Greenway House.
9. Coast walks: the South West Coastal Path extends 630 miles (1000km) in total. Choose a gentle stroll or get equipped for spectacular explorations of Devon’s Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Download walks at southdevonaonb.com
10. Start Point Lighthouse Visitor Centre.
Land Top Ten
1. Cream tea: delicious scones with cream and jam. In Devon, it is traditional to spread the rich clotted cream before the jam.
2. Agricultural shows: Yealmpton Agricultural Show and the Teignmouth Carnival in August are highlights. Farmers’ markets offer fine local produce.
3. Dartington Arts: besides the cinema and the summer school, Dartington’s Ways with Words Festival in July attracts 5,000 visitors.
4. Kingsbridge Fair: fine food and music.
5. Plymouth Beer Festival, July.
6. Salcombe Shooting School: the natural valley makes challenges for experts or beginners; families and groups are welcome.
7. Shakespeare week: Dartmouth, August.
8. Golf: Bigbury’s seaside course is stunning
9. Blackawton Worm Charming Festival: voted Europe’s Most Unmissable Festival.
10. East Allington’s Whacky Races: dare-devil go-kart racing, with an emphasis on silliness. Profits to local charities.
Miss Marple in Torquay
The English Riviera Zip Code
‘Did you know it was-him-all along?’ asked Gwenda.
They were all three, Miss Marple, Gwenda and Giles, sitting on the terrace of the Imperial Hotel at Torquay.
‘A change of scene,’ Miss Marple had said, and Giles had agreed, would be the best thing for Gwenda. So Inspector Primer had concurred and they had driven to Torquay forthwith.
Miss Marple said in answer to Gwenda’s question, ‘Well, he did seem indicated, my dear. Although unfortunately there was nothing in the way of evidence to go upon. Just indications, nothing more.’
From SLEEPING MURDER by Agatha Christie