Torquay: beauty and the bust

The Past Offences spent the bank holiday weekend in Torquay. We were heading south-west for a family wedding so decided to add a few days at the beach so the Minor Offences could get their toes wet.

Christie was born in Barton Road, Torquay in 1890, and the town is obviously keen to build on her links to the area. There is an Agatha Christie Festival in September and a one-mile walking tour is available from the tourist information office.

Paddling and ice cream dominated proceedings, but I managed to take a few Queen-of-Crime-themed photos for your delectation.

It’s a beautiful place on a sunny day, but it’s about to be dramatically undersold by my inferior photographic skills.

Princess Gardens, featured in the ABC Murders, seen from the big wheel.

Christie-themed boat-trips are available from Torquay’s pier. This one takes you to her holiday home Greenway by boat and back by Barnaby the Vintage Bus.

The Grand Hotel, where Christie spent her honeymoon. No sense going too far…

You can barely walk around an English city these days without encountering trails of decorated fibre-glass animals. Poirot the gorilla was designed by staff and students at South Devon College, and is displayed in the window of the department store Hoopers on Torquay’s main shopping street the Strand.

AGATHA CHRISTIE D.B.E., AUTHOR, 1890-1976. This statues was unveiled on 10th September 1990 by Christie’s daughter. The sculptor was Carol van den Boom-Cairns

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Past Offences by Rich Westwood is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.