Recently, news of a property for sale in the UK called "Winter Creek House" has attracted global attention.
It turns out that "Winter Creek House" is the former home of Agatha Christie, the "Queen of Reasoning" in Britain.
Agatha Christie is the world's best-selling detective novelist with countless fans around the world, and Chinese fans affectionately refer to her as "Grandma".
She spent the last 42 years of her life at Winter Creek House and wrote several famous works, including Murder in the Nile, Murder in the Study, and Witness to Murder.
Therefore, when the "Winter Creek House" was listed for sale, it triggered a "global" market response, and there were constantly interested buyers to see the house.
Stephen Christie-Miller, the real estate agent in charge of the sale of "Winter Creek House", told the morning reporter that usually such a large house usually takes 3 months to sell, but "Winter Creek House" is expected to sell within 4 weeks.
The opening price is about 24.77 million
In 1934, Agatha Christie saw an advertisement for the sale of "Winter Creek House" in a local newspaper, and after viewing the house with her husband, she immediately bought it.
87 years later, "Winter Creek House" was listed for sale again, but this time the sale information was not published in the newspaper, but on the website, and the listing reference price was 2.75 million pounds (about 24.77 million yuan).
Responsible for the sale of "Winter Creek House" is Savills Real Estate Brokerage Company, and the reporter found the sale page of "Winter Creek House" on its official website.
"Winter Creek House" is listed for sale on the website
According to the introduction, "Winter Creek House" belongs to the British Grade II protected building, with a construction area of 581.2 square meters, the main house is a 3-story brick wall villa, including five bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen, dining room, living room, library and study.
The 5 bedrooms are spread over three floors and from the windows of the master bedroom overlook the garden. All rooms have high ceilings and large windows, lots of light and ventilation.
This property also includes a cottage with a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and living room. The cottage has a separate entrance and exit, which can also be accessed through the main house villa.
The sale page also lists two other features of the property: the house faces the River Thames and has a garden of about 5 acres (about 20,234 square meters).
The large garden of "Winter Creek House"
Of course, the biggest selling point of Winter Creek House is that it is Agatha's former home: it is here that Agatha Christie, the "Queen of Reasoning", spent the last 42 years of her life; it was also here that she created several famous works, including "Murder in the Nile", "Murder in the Study" and "Witness to the Murder".
According to Agatha Christie, her book is the world's bestseller after the Bible and Shakespeare's works. Agatha wrote 66 mystery novels during her lifetime, as well as a large selection of short novellas and screenplays, which were translated into more than 100 languages and sold more than 2 billion copies.
You can imagine how much attention the news of this property for sale has received.
Buyers from all over the world are in touch
Realtor: It is estimated that it will be sold within 4 weeks
"Since the listing of 'Winter Creek House', the market response can be said to be 'global', and there are constantly interested buyers to see the house." Stephen Christie-Miller, a real estate agent responsible for the sale of "Winter Creek House", told the Morning News reporter on the 25th that because the sales of "Winter Creek House" are global, they have also received many customers from other countries in addition to British customers, "However, so far, no Chinese buyer has contacted us." ”
The reference price for Winter Creek House is £2.75 million. If it weren't for Agatha's former home, wouldn't the same type of house in the local area be less expensive?
To the Morning News reporter's question, Stephen Christie-Miller replied that given the size of the property, the £2.75 million price was not inflated, but reasonable.
Indoor corridors
"'Winter Creek House' is very popular in the market, and now, there are already several customers under consideration." Stephen Christie-Miller told the morning reporter that usually such a large house usually takes 3 months to sell, but "Winter Creek House" is estimated to sell within 4 weeks.
It is reported that Winter Creek House was listed on April 15.
The House of the "Writers"
Winter Creek House is located in Oxfordshire, a suburb of London. Surrounded by hills on all sides, Oxfordshire has a large number of historic country houses and gardens, built in the 18th century, three-storey "Winter Creek House", which is not conspicuous in the local villa complex.
However, a blue plaque hanging next to the white gate of "Winter Creek House" reveals its distinctive side.
The circular blue plaque reads: "The writer, Sir Agatha Christie (1890-1976), lived here with her husband, the archaeologist Sir Max Mallowyn (1904-1978), in 1934-1976. ”
For her outstanding achievements in the field of detective fiction writing, in 1971, the Queen of England awarded Agatha the title of Dame. In Britain, where the honour system is still highly valued, "Agatha Christie" is also the largest and most conspicuous on the blue plaque.
"Agatha Christie" underneath it reads "Writer". Although the writings are equal, if Agatha sees the word "writer" impressively printed on the sign next to the gate, it is estimated that she will mutter a few words.
According to Agatha's grandson Matthew, her grandmother filled out countless forms throughout her life, but in the "Career" column, she always wrote "housewife" instead of "writer".
Because Agatha's mother believes that her children cannot read until they are 8 years old, it is better for the eyes and better for the brain, so Agatha did not go to school until the age of 15. However, for girls born in the middle class at that time, such an experience was not unusual, and the important thing was not to receive formal education and work, but to teach their husbands and children to spend their lives.
Whenever I filled out the occupation column of the form, I didn't know what else to write about other than the "married woman" who was proud of it at the time. I am a married woman, that is who I am, who I am. Writing books is my side hustle. I've never had the golden sign of "professional" writing. I think that's ridiculous.
Agatha wrote this in her autobiography.
The house of "Lady Mallowyn"
Realtor Stephen Christie-Miller told the Morning News that the blue plaque of "Winter Creek House" was hung in 2010, and before that, many people did not know that this was the former home where Agatha had lived for more than 40 years, "because when living locally, Agatha used her second husband's surname: Malovin." ”
"Winter Creek House" gate
Although Agatha had made a name for herself when she moved to Winter Creek House, she had lived a low-key life. Not only that, but when living locally, Agatha was "Lady Malloen", which made it difficult to associate her with the famous "Agatha Christie". Christie was the surname of Agatha's first husband, and by the time she ended her 14-year marriage with her ex-husband in 1928, Agatha was already a well-known detective novelist, and because readers were too familiar with the name "Agatha Christie", she still used Christie's surname when publishing her works, but in life, she used her second husband's surname: Mallowyn.
When lawyer Gregor Kleinknecht and his family bought "Winter Creek House" more than 20 years ago, they didn't know it was Agatha's former home.
"When we moved in, the blue plaque hadn't hung up yet, and when we first saw the house, we didn't know it had anything to do with Agatha. We learned about it later. Gregor Kleinknecht said.
In the United Kingdom, the practice of hanging blue plaques on celebrity homes has been practiced for more than 150 years, but the "blue card system" was initially only implemented in London, and it was not until the mid-1990s that the Blue Card Committee gradually extended the scope of the "blue card house" outside London.
The reporter checked the official website of the Oxfordshire Blue Card Committee and found that the committee was established in 1999, and the blue plaque of "Winter Creek House" was unveiled on May 8, 2010, when Agatha's grandson Matthew attended the unveiling ceremony. As Agatha's only grandson, Matthew is also her copyright heir.
The House of Love
During her 85 years, Agatha lived in different places. For example, ashfield's old house in Torquay, Devon, which is also where she was born; Greenway in Torquay, which she has longed for since childhood; and houses in Thorningdale, Stiles, London Kensington, Chelsea and other places.
However, the happy marriage that Agatha has always dreamed of is realized in "Winter Creek House". It was here that she spent more than 40 years with her second husband, archaeologist Max Mallovin.
Max Mallown is not tall and average-looking, but he is "quite an English man". When the two met, Max Malloen was 26 and Agatha was 40 and was already a writer. Faced with the 14-year-old age gap, Agatha's relatives and friends believe that Mallowyn's motives are impure and oppose their union. But Agatha found that she and the Oxford university senior had endless conversations, and, unlike her first husband, Marlowe was gentle and considerate, which made Agatha, who had been hurt by her husband's extramarital affair, decide to enter the marriage again.
This time, Agatha chose the right one. After remarrying, Agatha became angry, with friends saying she was "like 10 years younger".
Not only did she incorporate archaeological elements into her detective fiction, Agatha also wrote a collection of essays called Tell Me How To Live, documenting the interesting people and interesting things she encountered when she traveled with her husband to archaeology in the Middle East. Agatha called the book a "labor of love" and the warmth of her husband is everywhere.
In the 5th year of marriage, the emotionally stable Mallowns bought "Winter Creek House" together.
In 1934, Agatha saw an advertisement for the sale of a house in a local newspaper, and she immediately took a fancy to the "Queen Anne and Georgian style house", and immediately signed a contract to pay after viewing the house with her husband.
Living room
After that, Agatha and her husband spent most of their lives here until their deaths on January 12, 1976. Agatha once wrote in her autobiography that she and her husband were "very happy" at Winter Creek House.
Or become the Agatha Memorial
It's a beautiful place, it feels like a country house... People like Agatha Christie have lived there, which gives the house a sense of history.
Stephen Christie-Miller said.
According to reports, although Christie died many years ago, many of the decorations of the year were preserved in the "Winter Creek House". According to records, the Kleinknecht family purchased Winter Creek House for £1.24 million in 2002. Now, they plan to move to a smaller house, so they decide to sell.
"This house is a happy place for Agatha and for our family. We are honored to have spent so many years in the place where Agatha lived. It's a pity that we're leaving and we had a very happy time here. However, it is time to move forward, and the house should have a new owner. Gregor Kleinknecht said.
Stephen Christie-Miller told the Morning News that the possibility that Winter Creek House will be open to the public in the future as an Agatha Memorial or museum, "Among our customers, there is an organization related to Agatha." ”
Source | Morning News, Shanghai reporter Xu Huifen
Source: Morning News