Portmeirion

so, feeling a bit grumpy this weekend because yesterday was meant to be our first steampunk outing of the year. However, not unreasonably , due to the wordlwide Covid-19 pandemic it was cancelled-though re-scheduled for the same time in 2021.

The event , simply called Portmeirion Steampunk consisted of a day trip to Portmeirion village in North Wales, and then Sunday there was to be a group trip on the Ffestiniog Railway.

You may or not have heard of Portmeirion. Many people have because of either the famous pottery by Susan Williams-Ellis or because it was famously the setting for 1960s British Sci fi drama The Prisoner, starring Patrick McGoohan.

So what is it about Portmerion that makes it worthy of a trip? I mean, it’s in North Wales and that is mostly known for being grey, full of slate mining and sheep.

Well, back in 1925 Welsh architect Clough Williams-Ellis bought the site of the Aber Iâ estate as the setting for his dream village, changing the name to Portmeirion. He wanted to show how a naturally beautiful location could be developed without spoiling it, and that one could actually enhance the natural background through sympathetic development.

The most striking thing about the village is the style of architecture, the buildings are a colourful array of Italian riviera style architecture through to Arts and Craft style buildings. Work on Portmeirion started in 1925 through to 1975 and interestingly many of the buildings were salvaged from building sites, giving  the village an eclectic style.

I sadly have not yet been to Portmeirion, but here’s a video to whet your appetite.

Have you been to Portmeirion?

Are there any odd, unusual places that are on your list of places to visit?