Agatha Christie's Hotel on the Moors

I've recently learned that the Moorland Hotel at Hay Tor, or Moorlands House, was sold earlier this year to a company called Hieronymous Gruff Limited, which sounds as if it must be associated with Harry Potter in some way. The company plans to renovate the hotel, and even hire actors and drama students to help energize the new hotel's ambiance. 

When my wife and I planned our trip to England last year, we tried to book a room in Moorlands House. After all, to stay in the hotel where Agatha Christie stayed and wrote would have to be inspiring, right? But it had no vacancies, so we stayed in a nice, homey Bed & Breakfast nearby. But I couldn't leave Hay Tor without stopping by Moorlands House, and taking a quick photograph of the hotel Agatha Christie stayed in. There, in a room without a computer, or even electricity, she picked up her pen, and a pad of paper, and wrote a major portion of her rough draft of The Mysterious Affair at Styles, in 1916. Or, as she put it, "I used to write laboriously all morning until my hand ached."

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Then, in the afternoon, she would take a walk across the moors, and think about what she had just written, as well as how to carry the story forward. No doubt during these walks she also climbed nearby Hay Tor numerous times, and gazed around the surrounding moors.

I'd like to return to Devon, and Dartmoor, to explore more of Agatha Christie's English landscape. If, in a few years time, I were to book a night in Moorlands House, I wonder if I might find a well dressed Belgian refugee, with an exquisitely tailored mustache, working there. Or perhaps a handsome Army officer walking with a slight limp, as a result of his WWI injuries? I'd like that. It'd certainly be something to see.

If you go there before I can return, let me know what the revamped hotel was like, okay?

Dragon Dave

Related Internet Links:

Hay Tor Hotel Sale