Over 100 people were trapped for several hours in Greenway, the former home of famed British mystery writer Agatha Christie, in the English countryside on Friday.
In a series of events that could have been lifted straight out of Christie’s mystery novels, a group of tourists were left stranded after stormy weather knocked down a tree, blocking the road leading to the property in Devon, southwest England.
Caroline Heaven, a tourist visiting Greenway, contacted local news outlet Devon Live to spread the word that roughly 100 tourists were trapped in the grounds of Christie’s former holiday home.
Britain’s National Trust, which manages the historic site, quickly announced that a large tree had fallen on the single-track road leading into the Greenway.
A spokesperson for the National Trust said it was aware that there were “visitors, staff, and volunteers still at Greenway unable to leave,” adding that the National Trust was “doing everything” to ensure their comfort while they waited.
The stranded tourists kept themselves busy, drinking cups of tea in the houses’ tearoom and playing croquet on the lawn, Heaven told Devon Live. Heaven, who arrived at the house around 11.30 a.m. local time (6.30 a.m. ET) on Friday, commended staff's efforts to look after the tourists.
“They are doing a great job. Theygive us free tea and other things. It's bleak," she remarked.
Christie herself spent hours on the Greenway's lawns, playing clock golf and croquet and entertaining guests with snippets from her latest mystery novels. This is according to the National Trust website.
It is likely that these tourists would also have explored the estate’s walled gardens and famous boathouse. Thisis the scene of the crime in Christie’s novel, “Dead Man’s Folly.” Despite the seemingly calm atmosphere, some social media users couldn’t help but draw a parallel with Agatha Christie’s iconic novel “And Then There Were None, in which ten strangers are inexplicably invited to a remote mansion off the Devon coast. As party members are mysteriously killed off, the group soon realizes there is a killer in their midst.
The mystery house
One social media user shared a link to the Devon Live article with a tweet counting down, “99, 98, 97, 96, 94 (grisly), 93." Another user shared the article, advising the trapped tourists to “implement a buddy system immediately.”
However, the tourists met a less grisly fate than Christie'scharacters. They left the estate on Friday evening after local rescue services reopened the road.
Those looking to get a taste of Christie’s murder mystery magic will have to wait a bit longer. The National Trust warned prospective visitors in an update on Saturday that the Greenway is set to remain closed due to "extensive storm damage” it sustained.
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