Top deck for solos
SINGLES can see in the NewYear without a price hike for going it alone on the River Cruise Line, with single supplements waived on its four-star Serenity. The deal – saving £439 per person – includes a seven-night New Year Cruise to Bruges, Brussels, Ghent and Antwerp from £699, departing from Dover on December 27. See rivercruiseline.co.uk or call 01858 435 655. THE Kenneth Branagh take on Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express is in cinemas. Luckily you can catch the Agatha trail to her golden era without risking a train to Istanbul. The 1950s carriages of the Dartmouth Steam Railway may not be quite up to the standard of the Orient Express – but they’re a perfect way to arrive at Agatha Christie’s former estate.
Now run by the National Trust, Greenway was described by Christie as “the loveliest place on earth”. The Georgian mansion has a commanding position high up on the eastern shoulder of the river Dart, with its own jetty, walled garden, woods, bathing place and glorious views. It is served by the railway’s Greenway Halt, via a 30-minute woodland walk.
A couple of TV adaptations of her tales were partly filmed here, and the house is open to the public. You can even stay – in an apartment in the main house, or in self-catering cottages in the grounds, surrounded by spooky beechwoods and hooting owls. The Lodge sleeps two, from £306 for two nights. See nationaltrust.org.uk. If you’re really set on a glamorous train journey, you can’t do better than the Belmond Northern Belle, which relives the heyday of rail travel.
The onboard decor is sumptuous, with painted ceilings, brocaded curtains, marquetry panelling, Axminster carpets, mosaic floors and moquette upholstery, in a celebration of British heritage and craftsmanship.
Its repertoire includes a long list of day trips or weekend breaks to some of Britain’s best attractions, with the finest cuisine, wine and scenery en route. Dress up and savour the trilling of crystal and chiming of fine china as the train gets under way and the rising descant of chatter as the champagne takes effect.
A day trip to London from Birmingham, including a lavish meal in each direction and a guided tour of the Tower of London, costs £385. See northernbelle.co.uk. Christie grew up in a big house in Torquay, which now hosts an annual Agatha Christie festival. In 1914 she and her first husband Archie had a brief honeymoon in the seaside resort’s big signature hotel, the Grand, before Archie went off to war.
The palatial hotel, which still dominates the esplanade, has an Agatha Christie suite and sits at the start of the Agatha Christie Mile.
The route fills in some detail of the early part of her life, including the graceful Victorian art nouveau seaside pavilion where she went to concerts and dances with Archie. B&B doubles from £81. See grandtorquay.co.uk. A rival to the Grand, up on the opposite hill, is the Imperial – which inside still feels a bit like an ocean liner from the 1950s. Although she may never have stayed here, in her youth Christie attended various society occasions in the Imperial, coming here to listen to jazz on Sunday afternoons. She renames it The Majestic in her book Peril at End House, where she There Th is a famous episode in the writer’s life when w she went missing for 11 days after her marriage m to Archie fell apart in 1926.
By then she was already a famous crime w writer. Huge speculation about her fate ensued, es especially when her car was found abandoned be beside a lonely lake in Surrey. But then a maid re recognised her among the guests in this ge genteel spa hotel in Harrogate, which is set in