One reason for spending a couple of nights in Porthmadog was its proximity to Portmeirion. So the next morning I took the narrow gauge railway across the Cob and got off at the halt at Boston Lodge. From there Portmeirion is a short walk.
All the book describe Clough Williams-Ellis's model village as "Italianate", but there is also a large element of English country house fantasy about it. This part springs from the same roots at Brideshead Revisited, and indeed Portmeirion also acted as a refuge for monumental architecture deemed surplus to requirements in post-war redevelopment.
It may have arisen out of aristocratic eccentricity, but today Portmeirion is the leading tourist attraction in North Wales. And boy does it know it. You may also have heard something about a television series being filmed there...
2 comments:
It's been a long time since I last visited the English (pardon. Welsh) countryside - only went to London the last years.
But your beautiful pictures wake in me the urge to tour England and Wales (and maybe even Scotland) again -oh, lifr is so short - there never is enough time ...
Thanks, Jonathan!
PS: I think I told you already about those RAH concerts planned for next year with Winwood and Clapton - maybe we can afford to go to one ...
Be seeing you.
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