A spectacular Oxfordshire house that was home to Agatha Christie
Once home to the Murder on the Orient Express author and her husband, Grade II-listed Winterbrook House is also appealing for its magnificent Thames-side setting.
Winterbrook House stands in an appealing setting on the banks of the Thames on the edge of this historic Wallingford, 12 miles from Henley-on-Thames and 15 miles from Oxford and a mile from Waitrose.
Dating from the 17th-century with Georgian rear additions, this Grade II-listed property comes to the market through Savills at a guide price of £2.75 million.
An English Heritage blue plaque on its Queen Anne façade announces that this charming five-bedroom house was the much-loved former home of Dame Agatha Christie and her globe-trotting husband, the archaeologist Sir Max Mallowan.
Having met and married Mallowan in 1930, crime writer Christie — reputedly the bestselling author of all time — bought Winterbrook House as their main residence before buying, four years later, Greenway House in Devon as their summer retreat.
The couple lived at Winterbrook House until Christie’s death in 1976, although they travelled widely in connection with Sir Max’s work (fans of Hercule Poirot will recall every minute of Death on the Nile and Murder on the Orient Express, the latter written in the Pera Palace Hotel in Istanbul).
For the past 20 years, Winterbrook has been the cherished family home of its international owners, who are now looking to downsize. The main house offers 4,190sq ft of immaculate living space on three floors, including a reception hall, three main reception rooms, a study, a kitchen/breakfast room, a principal bedroom suite and two further bedrooms on the first floor, plus two more bedrooms on the second floor.
It comes with an attached one-bedroom cottage and frontage to the Thames, with scope to instal a historic pontoon mooring, subject to the usual consents.
Exquisite houses, the beauty of Nature, and how to get the most from your life, straight to your inbox.
Winterbrook House is for sale at £2.75 million via Savills — see more pictures or enquire with the agent for further details.
Wallingford: What you need to know
- Location: Wallingford is situated about half an hour's drive from both Oxford and Henley-on-Thames
- Atmosphere: A historic riverside town, Wallingford brims with antique shops, coffee shops, pubs and restaurants. It also has a theatre and cinema and a large Waitrose
- Things to do: There's plenty of choice, from walking and cycling on the Chilterns to boating and rowing on the Thames. Golf is at the Springs Hotel Golf Club and the Wallingford Sports Park is home to tennis, squash, rugby and hockey clubs.
- Schools: Independent schools in the area include Moulsford Prep School, Cranford House, The Oratory Prep and Public School, Downe House, Radley College, Abingdon School and the European School in Abingdon, Pangbourne College and Bradfield College. Find more properties in the area.
A Georgian country house full of period features, set in grounds that are a true haven for wildlife
In the heart of Devon, Bolham House is a simply delightful country home with almost endless space, plus three cottages.
Carla must be the only Italian that finds the English weather more congenial than her native country’s sunshine. An antique herself, she became Country Life’s Arts & Antiques editor in 2023 having previously covered, as a freelance journalist, heritage, conservation, history and property stories, for which she won a couple of awards. Her musical taste has never evolved past Puccini and she spends most of her time immersed in any century before the 20th.
-
‘I’m not impressed by an Oxbridge education’: Author Jessie Burton on her acting ambitions, writing ‘The Miniaturist’ and her consuming passionsThe Sunday and New York Times bestselling author wrote her debut novel under her desk while temping as a PA for private equity companies. Lotte Brundle meets her.
By Lotte Brundle Published
-
You can now rent King William IV’s former home in London’s Mayfair — for a princely sumThe London property — with royal lineage — is on the market with the estate agency Wetherell for £25,000 a week.
By Lotte Brundle Published
-
You can now rent King William IV’s former home in London’s Mayfair — for a princely sumThe London property — with royal lineage — is on the market with the estate agency Wetherell for £25,000 a week.
By Lotte Brundle Published
-
Dream of revolution inside the 18th-century villa once occupied by Napoleon's French troopsAn apartment inside historic Villa Gnecchi Ruscone is on the market and it comes with a grand ballroom rumoured to have been frequented by Napoleon.
By Lotte Brundle Published
-
May the force be with you if you move into this London apartment block that Obi-Wan Kenobi (and Cher) once lived inOliver’s Wharf was once the residence of megastar Cher and the actor Sir Alec Guinness — as well as Mark Knopfler of the Dire Straits.
By Lotte Brundle Published
-
125 glorious acres of Elizabethan elegance for sale in Cheshire that comes with a moatIs this real life? Is it just fantasy? No, it's Holford Hall.
By Annabel Dixon Published
-
Look around this James Bond-themed house for sale in Nottinghamshire and release your inner MI6 agentNow, come, come dear reader, you get as much fulfilment out of Skyfall as I do, so why don't you admit it?
By James Fisher Published
-
The eclectic New York townhouse that Lily Allen sings about in her new, headline-making album is for sale381, Union Street is on the market just days after the singer’s latest album details the alleged infidelity in her marriage.
By Lotte Brundle Published
-
This Suffolk home is a perfect escape from the world and it comes with its own stretch of river and 20 acresThis idyllic home in Suffolk is the perfect village home.
By Julie Harding Published
-
The quaint Alpine village that got taken over by The BeatlesThe Beatles visited the Austrian resort of Obertauern to film their 1965 film Help!. Despite a distinct lack of prowess on the slopes, the Fab Four got by with a little help from some new-found friends, discovers Russell Higham.
By Russell Higham Published
