Tourists were trapped for hours while visiting the former home of mystery writer Agatha Christie

More than 100 people were trapped for several hours on Friday at Greenway, the former home of famed British mystery writer Agatha Christie, in rural England.

In a series of events that could have been lifted from the pages of one of Christie’s mystery novels, the group of tourists were left stranded after stormy weather toppled a tree and blocked the way to the Devon estate. , South West England.

Caroline Heaven, a tourist visiting Greenway, contacted local news outlet Devon Live to spread the news that about 100 tourists were trapped in the grounds of Christie’s former vacation home.

The National Trust of Great Britain, which manages the historic site, quickly posted a notice on its website announcing that a large tree had fallen on the single carriageway leading to Greenway.

A spokesman for the National Trust said he was aware there were “visitors, staff and volunteers still at Greenway who couldn’t leave”, adding that the National Trust “made every effort” to ensure their comfort while they waited.

The stranded tourists busied themselves sipping cups of tea in the homes tea room and playing rounds of croquet on the lawn, Heaven told Devon Live.

Heaven, who arrived at the home around 11:30 a.m. local time (6:30 a.m. ET) on Friday, praised the staff’s efforts to look after the tourists.

“They do a great job, they give us free tea and stuff. It’s a bit gloomy,’ she noted.

Christie herself was known for spending hours on the lawns of Greenway, playing bell golf and croquet and entertaining guests with excerpts from her latest mystery novels, according to the National Trust website.

The captive tourists would also have had time to explore the estate’s walled gardens and famous boathouse, which serves as 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 to Christie’s iconic novel ‘And Then There Were None’, in which ten strangers are inexplicably invited to a remote country house off the coast of Devon. As members of the party are mysteriously murdered, the group soon realizes that there is a killer in their midst.

A social media user shared a link to the Devon Live article with a tweet counting down: “99, 98, 97, 96, 94 (creepy), 93.”. Another user shared the article, advising trapped tourists to “immediately implement a buddy system.”

However, the tourists met a less gruesome fate than that of Christie’s characters, and managed to leave the estate on Friday night after local rescue services managed to clear the road.

However, those wanting a taste of the magic of Christie’s murder mystery will have to wait a little longer, as the National Trust warned potential visitors in an update on Saturday that Greenway will remain closed due to the “extensive storm damage” it has suffered.