Agatha Underground

In this very special tour, learn about Agatha Christie connections to Kents Cavern as you explore this fascinating cave system. There is little doubt that a young Agatha would have visited these impressive caves, as her father was a Fellow of the Natural History Society and even helped fund their excavation. Agatha later used them as inspiration for Hampsley Cavern in The Man in the Brown Suit, which turns 100 this year.

It seems likely that Agatha’s lifelong interest in archaeology has its roots in the cavern’s labyrinth of passages formed 2.5 million years ago. Learn all about the magnificent caves themselves, as well as their fascinating connection to the Queen of Crime in this truly underground event. Kents Cavern is located in the exclusive area of Wellswood, which is well worth exploring itself as part of your visit.

Information

Getting to the Venue

Kents Cavern is in the Wellswood area of Torquay, about one mile up a mill from Torquay Harbour. If you are walking or driving, use TQ1 2JF in your sat nav or use What3Words picked.cave.lively.

It’s about five minutes on the 22 bus from Torquay Harbour and then a five-minute walk from the St Mathias Church bus stop. Plan your journey on the Stagecoach website.

Accessibility

Kents Cavern is a relatively easy walk, with mostly flat concrete surfaces and only 9 shallow steps. There is plenty of head room and best of all no stooping! Over 6 million people have enjoyed visiting Kents Cavern since 1880, but because this is an underground space we do ask all visitors to take care when visiting the caves as the walls, paths and ceilings are not straight. Sensible footwear should be worn.

There are a few steep gradients of up to 1:4 – 1:5 in the caves, with nine shallow steps and some narrow sections, unfortunately wheelchairs cannot negotiate past the first chamber of the cave. A DVD of the cave tour can be viewed in the visitor centre free of charge.

They ask that wheelchair users wanting to access the cinema to call the caves ahead of the visit on 01803 215 136 so arrangements can be made.

Assistance Dogs are welcome at Kents Cavern when accompanied by and under the control of their owners. However, caves are often an alien environment for assistance dogs and there may be hazards inside that your dog was not trained to detect. They therefore strongly advise that anyone planning on visiting Kents Cavern with an assistance dog should call them in advance of their visit.

There is disabled parking very close to the attraction entrance.

There are no toilets in the caves. Toilet facilities are located at the far end of the cafe.

With help from the HeritageAbility project at Living Options Devon a visual story is available to help those with autism to prepare for a visit to the caves Click here to download.