Torquay was home from home for our famous Dame Agatha

Torquay, which had attracted many literary figures from Elizabeth Barrett Browning to Rudyard Kipling, was also the birthplace in 1890 of the world's best-selling novelist Agatha Christie.
Her childhood home, Ashfield, lived in her heart for the rest of her life. This was where Agatha developed her self-admitted 'passion for houses', which resulted decades later in realising that she owned eight houses – including her home at Greenway, near Galmpton, ('the loveliest house in the world'), so intimately associated with Agatha Christie.
A recent discovery by the Christie Archive Trust unearthed a photograph taken at the turn of the last century of Agatha's very first house – her dolls' house. This and many others are featured in Agatha Christie at Home, in a new updated edition.
It was Agatha's father, an American, who had been enticed by Torquay. He and his family were on holiday there when he returned to New York on a business matter. He deputed his wife Clarissa (known as Clara) to find a house to rent to continue the holiday on his return – and was taken aback to find that Clara, having seen 35 houses, had fallen in love with Ashfield, though not for rent, and had bought it.
He entered into the spirit of Torquay, joining the Royal Torbay Yacht Club, to which he'd adjourn to play cards and meet friends, and also the Torquay Natural History Society, for which a new home was opened in 1876 as the Museum (now Grade II listed). It was built in a striking Venetian-Gothic style (with windows designed by John Birnie Philip, one of the sculptors of the Albert Memorial) to display the discoveries of archaeologist and founder member William Pengelly. Now it contains a big range of exhibits from fossils to a Devon farmhouse – and in 1990, with the help of Agatha's family, it opened a gallery devoted to Frederick Miller's daughter. Containing books, notes, costumes and photographs illustrating the connections between Agatha's life, her home town and her novels, it is unique.
Here is Miss Marple's outfit worn by Joan Hickson and mink coat worn by Agatha. Poirot's walking cane, from the ITV series Poirot, has been loaned by David Suchet who played Poirot for over 20 years. And after filming the final episode, in 2013, Torquay Museum was offered the bookshelves, fireplace and furniture from the study and lounge sets of Poirot's Art Deco apartment.
This is the prime place in Torquay to find out about Agatha. I'd recommended it to a friend, a fan of her novels, on holiday in Torquay with her sisters. They'd enjoyed their week, but on their free day they visited this 'lovely little museum, with a really nice cafe', as Paula Marshall of Bordon in Hampshire described it. 'And we really enjoyed the Agatha Christie. I was a bit wary about taking Tina and Sandra to the museum because it isn’t really Tina’s ‘thing’ – but she said it was the highlight of the holiday!'
Agatha Christie at Home by Hilary Macaskill (Pimpernel Press, £30)