Circa the golden age of detective fiction in the 1920s, an English country house became a crime scene. In 1938, crime queen Agatha Christie purchased her own crime scene, Greenway Estate, where she lived and worked all her life. This vast Georgian house, now owned by the National Trust, is a brick and mortar monument to Christie's glorious legacy written in ink and paper. Key facts about this house – Greenway Estate is located on the River Dart near Garmton in Devon. The Greenway Building was built in the late 18th century by Rupe Harris Rupe. Novelist Agatha Christie and her husband owned Greenway Estate since 1938. Historic Houses

The first property to be built on Greenway Manor was a Tudor mansion built in the 16th century by the Gilbert family. Humphrey Gilbert, a soldier and member of Parliament during the reign of Elizabeth I, was born here, but little is known about this first Tudor house. We know that the current Greenway House was built in the late 18th century by a man named Roope Harris Roope, and that subsequent owners modified and added to it until it was purchased by Agatha Christie and her husband Max Mallowan in 1938 .

Agatha Christie is said to have grown up admiring the Greenway from her home in Torquay. When the property came up for sale for ￡6,000, she convinced her husband to let them buy it and it became their holiday home. Visitors to the Greenway can stroll through the Mallowan family's living room, which is filled with historic items from Christie's childhood home in Torquay, as well as mid-20th-century appliances in the kitchen and the living room, which is filled with items from Mark's Objects obtained from many archaeological excavations.

Just some of the treasures on display at Greenway House include the Damascus Chest, a beautifully handcrafted chest purchased by Max Mallowan, A Steinway piano, which Christie was said to be too shy to play despite being a concert-level pianist, and the world's second mobile phone purchased by Anhony Hicks, who was using it at the time Working in the garden.

As well as a large country house, Greenway Manor has a tennis court, impressive magnolias planted by Max Mallowan in 1938, a kitchen garden, vineyard and bird pond, which There are sculptures by Bridget McCrum, and many beautifully planted gardens surrounding the house. The drive was built in the Repton style in the 1820s.

Green Lane House and its surroundings often appear in Agatha Christie's novels. In the novel Five Little Pigs, completed in 1942, Christie used the path leading from the main building to the battery, overlooking the River Dart, as the key location for the inevitable murder. The river again became a convenient geographical feature in 1944's Torso Zero, as a suspect disappeared each night for a swim, and in 1956's Dead Man's Folly In Man's Folly, the Greenway House boathouse is where the first victim is found.

The Boathouse on the Greenway was called the 'Ralegh' 'The Boathouse' after an accident involving Sir Walter Ralegh, a pipe-smoker and a fireman with a pint of beer. The boathouse at Lalergue is thought to date from the late Georgian period and features a plunge pool into the river, a sunbathing salon and a verandah with a fireplace.

When Christie died in 1976, Greenway was occupied by her husband, Max Mallowan, until his death in 1978. Their daughter Rosalind Hicks and her husband lived in the house until Rosalind's death in 2004, when the property was acquired by the National Trust. Now a Grade II listed building, Greenway House, its gardens and accompanying art gallery are open to the public. During the winter the house is closed to the public so that the National Trust management team can inspect, clean and pack many of the house's important items, which have been featured in television and films