• ARCHIVE : Agatha Christie's Potent Plants
    Date: 15 and 17 September

    Part of the English Riviera's Agatha Christie Festival this new event is a special tour of the Torre Abbey gardens hosted by the Head Gardener.  You will be among the very first to see a brand new section of gardens in honour of Torquay most famous past resident, the Queen of Crime, Agatha Christie.  The Potent Plants garden features a range of plants which are perfectly safe in the garden, can be processed to make some of the poisons that feature in Agatha Christie's crime novels including opium poppies (opium) castor oil plants (ricin) and almond trees (cyanide).  Of course plants can be powerful medicines as well as poisons and the garden also features plants known for their health benefits such as willow (aspirin).  In a final twist the potent plants are framed by flowerbed containing horticultural clues pointing to four of Agatha Christie's short stories. 

    Come along and see if you can solve the mysteries of Agatha Christie's garden of Potent Plants.  The tours are:
    2.30pm Tuesday 15th September (Agatha's birth date)
    2.30pm Thursday 17th September
    Booking advisable and normal Torre Abbey entrance fees apply.

Events