Nothing here runs to a printed time. A small boat shuttles across the River Dart between Dittisham's pontoon and Greenway Quay, below Agatha Christie's former holiday home, whenever someone on either bank rings the bell. What you need to know is when the ferryman is on duty and what to have in your pocket.
Operating hours as published by Greenway & Dittisham Ferry on its website and in its 2026 brochure, read on 1 October 2026. Winter hours apply from early October until Good Friday 2027. Greenway & Dittisham Ferry — Dittisham to Greenway ferry · 2026-10-01
Why ring a bell to cross a river? Because on this stretch of the Dart there is nothing else to cross by. Dittisham and Greenway face each other across a few hundred metres of tidal water, and the ferry between them is a small boat that waits on one side until somebody on the other summons it. The company that runs it says it comes every few minutes, and the crossing itself takes about five.
Most passengers are heading for Greenway, the National Trust house and garden that was Agatha Christie's holiday home. The ferry lands at Greenway Quay, a short walk below the house, and the Trust says people arriving by boat, on foot or by bike do not need to book, whereas drivers must book a parking space. That makes the Dittisham boat the easiest way in for anyone staying on the river's west bank.
This page covers only that short crossing. The same company runs scheduled boats from Dartmouth to Greenway and to Dittisham; they are mentioned below only where they change what you pay.
You buy your ticket on board and nowhere else; the company says the fares are too small and the service too constant to be worth selling online. Two adults with two children pay £26.00 to cross and come back.
If you arrived at Dittisham on the company's scheduled boat from Dartmouth, you should not need to pay again to hop over: its brochure says a Dittisham ferry ticket lets you use the Greenway crossing free, and the website offers to bring passengers across free to catch a Dartmouth boat from Greenway if they miss the direct one.
| Adult, 15 and over | £ 3.50 |
| Child, 4 to 14 | £ 3 |
| Bicycle with rider | £ 5 |
Fares on the operator's website and in its 2026 brochure, which agree; no validity date is printed Greenway & Dittisham Ferry — fares · 2026-10-01
The two landings listed in NaPTAN, the national stop database kept for the Department for Transport, are about 280 metres apart across the river, which is why the crossing takes roughly five minutes. Dittisham sits on the west bank; Greenway is on the east bank below Galmpton, and both are in South Hams, Devon. The water between them belongs to Dart Harbour, a trust port created by Act of Parliament in 1975 and responsible for safety within the harbour, which counts Dittisham among the up-river stops for visiting boats.
The bell hangs outside the Ferry Boat Inn, at the top of the pontoon, and that is the whole terminal. Cars go on The Ham, the green above the river where Dittisham Parish Council runs a pay-and-display car park with toilets; the National Trust warns that spaces there are limited in July and August. From the Ham a path forks left down to Manor Street and the pub, and at low tide you can also walk along the edge of the river to reach it.
Greenway Quay is the estate's own landing, with a kiosk and its own bell. Greenway House is, in the operator's words, a five-minute stroll up behind it, and for anyone who cannot manage the slope the National Trust sends a car down to meet the boat. Parking at the quay is limited, and the Trust asks drivers visiting the house to book a space in its main car park in advance.
The bell is the booking system. On the Dittisham side it is outside the Ferry Boat Inn at the head of the pontoon; on the Greenway side it is at the quay. The company says boats run every few minutes when summoned.
The National Trust requires visitors arriving by car to book a parking space at Greenway, by 8am on the day at the latest. Come by ferry, on foot or by bike and no booking is needed to visit.
The Trust gives the Dart Valley Trail from Kingswear as 4 miles and from Dartmouth as 6, with steep sections, and the Greenway walk from Churston station or Broadsands as 3½ miles of lanes. It also says there is currently no bus to Greenway.
The company's conditions say bicycles and e-bikes are carried at the crew's discretion and that the crew will not lift them for you. A heavy e-bike can be refused. Dogs are welcome on the company's ferries.
The terms of carriage exclude unaccompanied children under sixteen, and leave children in the care of the adults travelling with them.
The ferry works the whole year: apart from Christmas Day and Boxing Day it runs every day, on shorter hours in winter. Whether Greenway House is open on a given winter day is a separate question for the National Trust's calendar, which this page could not confirm for November and December.
Compare it with the Bantham boat on the Avon, a few miles west in the same district, which works fixed windows for six months and then stops, or with the Kingsbridge to Salcombe ferry, whose times move with the tide. The Dittisham crossing asks less planning than either: turn up within the hours, ring, and wait.
The ferry works until 4pm from early October until Good Friday, so allow time to walk down from the house to Greenway Quay and ring the bell before then. From Good Friday the day runs until 5pm.
The company says only that tickets are bought on the boat and cannot be bought online. It does not say which payment methods are taken, so carry some cash as well as a card.
No. It stops on two days a year only, 25 and 26 December.
No, though the same company runs both. The Dartmouth boats keep a timetable, take about half an hour and cost £13 single or £16 return for an adult. The Dittisham boat is a five-minute bell crossing at £3.50 each way, and holders of a Dartmouth to Dittisham ticket can use it free.
On The Ham, the parish council's pay-and-display car park above the river, which has toilets. The National Trust notes that it fills up in July and August.
£5.00 each way for the bicycle and its rider together, as long as you can carry the bike aboard yourself.