Hercule Poirot in Peril at End House

Where is Peril at End House set?

In Agatha Christie's 1932 novel, Poirot and Hastings go to the Cornish resort of St Loo where they stay at the Majestic Hotel. Sitting in the hotel terrace in the morning sun they meet a local resident, Ms Nick Buckley, who lives in End House, a large ramshackle house on a point in the bay.

There is a Looe in Cornwall but not a St Loo. Christieologists believe Christie set the book in Torquay and the Majestic Hotel is really the Imperial which sits on a promontory overlooking the bay.

But where did they film the David Suchet 1990 TV version of Peril at End House in which St Loo became St Looe?

The "hotel" they checked into is not in fact a hotel - but a residential block which is rented out by some of the owners. And it's in Salcombe in Devon. A sign showing its real name, The Salcombes, was covered over for the filming and replaced by a sign designating it The Majestic.

And Poirot and Hastings then sit in the terrace overlooking the creek and meet Nick Buckley while trying to order drinks. In the TV production, Nick Buckley points out her house, End Point, just across the bay. However, if Hastings and Poirot were really sitting in the terrace of The Salcombes no house looking like End Point is anywhere to be seen.

Shots filmed in the "hotel" have been spliced together with scenes filmed somewhere else and in which End House can be seen across the creek. But where is End House? It turns out to be a couple of miles along the coast overlooking South Sands, a cove much nearer the sea. And the filming of some of the shots in the "hotel terrace" were filmed on the other side of South Cove, probably in the back garden of a private house right at the eastern end of the southern side of the cove.

End House is in reality Moult House, an impressive building with one of the best views in the area.

The fireworks display was actually set up on the eastern side of the creek and all the guests at "End House" arrived in evening dress for the filming.

Poirot, Hastings, Inspector Japp and Miss Lemon sat in deck chairs on South Sands for the final scene - but how did they stop locals walking into the shot? They offered them free ice creams for the duration of the filming!

The tea shop where Hastings and Poirot have a cream tea is in fact part of a pub called The Fortescue in Union Street. And the office of Charles Vyse is on the other side of the street. Captain Challenger's yacht was moored at the end of Union Street.

The nursing home was filmed in the Salcombe Yacht Club in Cliff Road but the steep walled path supposedly leading up to the entrance is next door and leads to a house called The Grange. The yacht club was renamed The Grange Nursing Home for the filming.

But where was the St Looe train station? I've no idea. There is no station at Salcombe.

So it didn't prove possible to sit in the exact same location as Hercule Poirot and look out over the creek. And any ideas of buying a house like End Point has been put on the back burner. Property costs in Salcombe are only just behind London and Sandbanks.