Hoodown Park

In the novel Dead Man's Folly, Hoodown Park is the neighbouring estate of Nasse House. It was previously owned by a Mr Fletcher, but he had been forced to sell it after World War II. The Youth Hostel Association bought it over and converted it into a youth hostel. At the time of the events in the book, it was a busy place, taking in over a hundred visitors a day. Amy Folliat did not mind the conversion, commenting that it was good that young people could enjoy themselves. In her opinion, the house was of late Victorian design and of no particular architectural merit and hence the alterations did not matter.

People from Hoodown
The people staying at Hoodown feature significantly in the plot of the novel. They frequently trespassed onto the grounds of Nasse House in order to take a short cut to the ferry to get across the River Helm. Among the characters from Hoodown were:
 * a female Italian hitch-hiker
 * a female Dutch hitch-hiker
 * a young man in a shirt with many turtles on it
 * a German girl Elsa

Poirot gave a lift to the Italian and Dutch girl on his way to Nasse House. He later encountered them at the fete. Earlier, Elsa and the Italian girl had also tried to take a short cut across the Nasse House grounds but were turned away by George Stubbs.

Hoodown in real life
Hoodown is based on Maypool House, a neighbouring property to Greenway on the river Dart which Agatha Christie used as a holiday home in Devon. Like in the novel, Maypool was a YHA hostel until it was sold in 2010. The house is in private hands but part of it may be rented on AirBnb.

Further to the south there is an actual Hoodown farm and Hoodown Road. It is likely that Christie chose place names inspired by the local geography.