Portmeirion

In 1925, Clough Williams-Ellis, an architect and landscape designer embarked on a 50 year quest to bring his dream to life and the result is the bizarre and otherworldly but hypnotically beautiful Portmeirion.  It really feels like you have fallen down the rabbit hole when you find yourself in the midst of the fairy tale buildings, bright colours, and mish mash of architectural styles with a few random religious icons thrown in for good measure.  It's no wonder really that The Prisoner was filmed here.  It's just so weird.

The sun was still fighting its way through the cloud when we reached Portmeirion although the clouds coming off the mountains looked quite menacing.  Even so we completed a little of the Coastal Walk and managed to get completely off the beaten track on the Forest Walk in the densely wooded hills above the village before the weather moved in.  Good training for next week!

Views over the estuary from Portmeirion and clouds over Snowdonia National Park

The village itself is a captivating place.  The pictures below don't do it justice but do give a taste of just how much there is to see.  It's information overload for the senses.  

Portmeirion village - a view towards the Dome Gallery

Me - just a little bemused by it all

Bell tower

Portmeirion village - central view

Portmeirion village - italianate buildings

Intrigued by it all we drove a few miles north to Plas Brondanw, the ancestral home of Clough Williams-Ellis with the beautiful gardens he also designed and constructed. By the time we had finished lunch, the rain had started coming down in steady sheets.  Raincoats and borrowed umbrellas were enough to keep us dry as we did a quick circuit of the grounds.  Again, very pretty and testament to the commitment and vision of a slightly eccentric perhaps but undoubtedly gifted man.

Plas Brondanw

With our usual impeccable timing, just as we returned the borrowed umbrellas and had to walk the 100m to the car in just our flimsy raincoats, the heavens opened.  At times like these I usually think to myself, 'can the rain possibly get any heavier?!'

Yes it can.

Ah well, it was worth the drenching.

Plas Brondanw garden

And to finish the day on a high note we returned to Portmeirion in the evening for a meal at Castell Deudraeth.  Ross was in his element - a visit to fairytale land during the day and dining in a castle like a lord in the evening!  

Castell Deudraeth

Our accommodation at Tyddyn Iolyn had to be swapped during the day as it was the only way to accommodate us for two nights at such late notice.  Hence we returned in the evening to cosier lodgings at The Bakehouse, as its name suggests the farm's old bakery still with its beautiful inglenook fireplace.

The Bakehouse at Tyddyn Iolyn

The rain that started earlier in the afternoon just kept coming, the heaviest showers seeming to coincide perfectly with the times I had to jump out of the car to open and close the gate to the B+B.  It didn't help of course that the Bakehouse key somehow got swallowed up in the recesses of my cavernous bag and we were both standing outside the door slowly getting wetter and wetter while I rifled through my bag contents.  Ross demonstrated great restraint (albeit with barely concealed mirth) when we had to return to the car for shelter while I located the damn key.  Found it!