Easterhead Bay

Easterhead Bay is the newly developed seaside resort opposite Gull’s Point, separated from the house by a narrow strip of water and linked to Saltcreek by a rowing-boat ferry. Its modern hotel and bathing beach contrast with the older fishing village across the river, while the crossing and the long road around by Saltington give the setting a practical role in the novel’s movements and alibis.

Setting and contrast

From a window at Gull’s Point, Mary Aldin looks across the river Tern toward Easterhead Bay. The resort consists of a large sandy bathing beach, a cluster of modern bungalows, and a large hotel on the headland facing the sea. The hotel stands nearly opposite Lady Tressilian’s house; from the house, its conspicuously new appearance is visible across the narrow water.

The resort’s newness distinguishes it from Saltcreek, the straggling fishing village spread along a hillside. Saltcreek is old-fashioned and conservative, and its inhabitants regard the resort and its summer visitors with contempt. The two places therefore face each other across the river not only as different settlements but as contrasting social worlds: established village life on one side, modern holiday development on the other.

Beach and hotel

The beach below the Easterhead Bay Hotel brings the resort’s leisure setting into view through a scene shared by Mary Aldin, Audrey Strange, and Kay Strange. Audrey and Mary sit on the beach, while Kay lies farther along in the sun. The hotel’s imposing presence above them makes the resort’s built landscape part of the scene, rather than merely a distant landmark.

The hotel also serves as a place to spend the evening. Nevile Strange says he crossed to Easterhead Bay at about half-past ten, met Ted Latimer at the hotel, had drinks, and played billiards. He says that, after they missed the last ferry back, Ted drove him to Gull’s Point by way of Saltington, a journey he describes as sixteen miles. The account makes the hotel a specific stop in Nevile’s version of his whereabouts, while the missed crossing explains why the return required a much longer route.

Crossing and plot significance

The ferry is a rowing boat operated by brothers Will and George Barnes, who know Saltcreek residents by sight and recognize many people travelling from Easterhead Bay. When questioned about the previous night, George says that Nevile crossed from Gull’s Point at half-past ten but did not return on the last ferry, which had left the Easterhead side at half-past one. The ferry’s timetable and the brothers’ local knowledge give the crossing evidential significance: a routine service becomes a way to check the timing in Nevile’s account.

The investigating party also crosses to the resort and goes up to the Easterhead Bay Hotel. In this way, the novel uses the geography repeatedly: the resort is at once a place for bathing and evening recreation, a visible counterpart to Gull’s Point, and a destination whose connection to the house depends on a ferry or a lengthy drive around by Saltington. The contrast between apparent closeness across the water and the difficulty of the road journey gives the landscape a quiet role in shaping what can be seen, remembered, and verified.