Portmeirion is a village in north Wales built to show how a beautiful site could be developed without spoiling it; the village is surrounded by 70 acres of forest
Portmeirion is not a real town but a private development which charges visitors $15 if you want to explore the village; I suspect the village would be packed in the summer
Noël Coward wrote Blithe Spirit while staying in the Fountain 2 suite at Portmeirion; George Bernard Shaw and H. G. Wells were also early visitors
Portmeirion's architectural bricolage and deliberately fanciful nostalgia have been noted as an influence on the development of postmodernism in architecture in the late 20th century
The village would be great for weddings, business meetings, family reunions, etc.; Portmeirion is a perfect setting in this age of Instagram
Leaving Portmeirion we got behind a Rolls Royce SUV; I googled the price and they start around $375,000 (for a car!)
Red aloe vera is not a plant you'd normally see in Wales; Prince Charles has supposedly visited Portmeirion
One of the biggest ongoing discussions Lee and I had was which side to walk on; when Lee asked locals they said there was no standard side which seems very un-British
In 1956 the village was visited by architect Frank Lloyd Wright, and other famous visitors have included Gregory Peck, Ingrid Bergman and Paul McCartney
Bristol Colonnade; the village was built between 1925 and 1975 and takes advantage of a micro-climate which lets plants native to Italy grow here
The Beatles' manager, Brian Epstein, was a frequent visitor and George Harrison spent his 50th birthday in the village in 1993; Portmeirion is also frequently used as a setting for movies and TV shows
The view across Tremadog Bay shows typical Welsh countryside; there are endless slate walls separating sheep pastures and a hardy, independent people used to harsh weather
Major Walter Clopton Wingfield is generally credited with inventing lawn tennis when in 1873 he designed and patented a similar game for his guests to play on his nearby estate of Nantclwyd in Llanelidan, Wales
Portmeirion is often called the UK's most odd village but it's a fun, offbeat attraction; I just loved the whimsical nature of it and the colors brightened a blustery Welsh day
The developer has denied repeated claims that the village design was based on Portofino on the Italian Riviera but I don't see any resemblance; the buildings now are mainly apartments and hotel rooms
The developer stated that he wanted to pay tribute to the atmosphere of the Mediterranean but, unfortunately, he couldn't bring the warm weather too
This featured blog entry was written by VagabondCowboy from the blog The frugal travels of a vagabond.
Read comments or Subscribe
