In the novel Taken at the Flood, Warmsley Vale is the village where the Cloade family live and where most of the action of the novel takes place. It is situated in Oastshire, twenty-eight miles from London and three miles away from Warmsley Heath, whence it is reachable by a footpath through the fields. It is surrounded by the hills of Downe Copse, Bats Hill and Long Ridge and the forest of Mardon Wood. Its main road is called High Road.
The village is described thus:
- "Warmsley Vale, tucked away amongst wooded hills, is as unlike Warmsley Heath as well can be. It is in essence a microscopic old-fashioned market town now degenerated into a village. It has a main street of Georgian houses, several pubs, a few unfashionable shops and a general air of being a hundred and fifty instead of twenty-eight miles from London."
(in Taken at the Flood, Book I, Chapter One)
It is implied that the village is quite provincial. Being off the main road, any strange car would be noticed by the occupants, who all unite in their dislike of the "mushroom growth" of Warmsley Heath. After the war, it is also very problematic to get hold of servants, and the only households that are not under-staffed are those of Frances Cloade and Rosaleen Cloade.
When Hercule Poirot takes up residence at the Stag, Rowley Cloade suggests he would be better off going to a nicer hotel in Warmsley Heath, as the Vale is "a very one-horse sort of place". The Detective does not oblige him.
Residents[]
Furrowbank, the residence of David and Rosaleen, in Agatha Christie's Poirot: Taken at the Flood
- Rosaleen Cloade and David Hunter, at Furrowbank
- Lynn and Adela Marchmont, in the White House
- Frances and Jeremy Cloade, in a handsome Georgian house on High Street
- Katherine and Lionel Cloade, in a shabby house on High Street with a worn brass plate
- Rowley Cloade at the Long Willows farm, lying between Warmsley Vale and Warmsley Heath
- Frances's deceased father, Lord Trenton, who bred horses in the vicinity
- Joan and Marjorie Macrae
- Jimmy Pierce
Establishments[]
- The Stag, a pub and inn
- Bells and Motley, a pub and inn
- The Load of Hay, a pub
Churches[]
Poirot (David Suchet) and Superintendent Spence (Richard Hope) discussing the inquest in the Cornmarket, in Agatha Christie's Poirot: Taken at the Flood
- the modest little Roman Catholic Church of the Assumption
- the Protestant St. Mary's Church in the middle of the square, facing the Cornmarket
Other buildings[]
- the confectioner's, run by the Peacocks
- the Cornmarket, where the inquest is held
- a post office
- a police station
- a telephone box
- a shut-down aerodrome