Greenway does peach of a job on fruit house restoration

By Laura Joint
BBC Devon

Greenway gardener Rob Lewton at work in the renovated peach house

Greenway will again be producing soft fruit, following the restoration of its historic peach house.

The peach house - the longest in Devon - would have provided fruit in the days when Agatha Christie spent her summers at Greenway.

The crime writer's daughter Rosalind Hicks also grew fruit there, but it fell into disrepair.

The National Trust, which was gifted the house and gardens, has now restored it and fruit will be ready in 2013.

Agatha Christie's grandson Mathew Prichard plants the first peach tree

The first peach tree has been planted by Agatha Christie's grandson Mathew Prichard, and nectarines and apricots will also be planted.

The work was carried out by specialist craftsmen from the National Trust's Killerton estate in east Devon.

It is the latest phase of the multi-million pound restoration of the gardens and house, which overlooks the River Dart at Galmpton.

The house was Torquay-born Agatha Christie's holiday home from 1938 until 1959.

The gardens were opened to the public in 2000.

Following the deaths of Agatha Christie's son-in-law Anthony Hicks in 2004 and daughter Rosalind in 2005, the house and its contents were also gifted to the trust - this summer was marked its second season of opening to the public.

To date, some 70,000 people have visited Greenway in 2010.

Robyn Brown, general manager at Greenway, said: "This year feels far easier than the last when we saw just under 100,000 visitors at a time when we were learning the ropes in the house.

"We anticipated being less frenetic than last year and this has proven to be the case."