The main reason for us picking Tremadog as a base in our short stay in Gwynedd, Wales in 2011 was because of its proximity to Portmeirion, the Italian-style village built over fifty years in the middle of the last century by Sir Clough Williams-Eliis, most famously associated with the excellent 1960s TV series The Prisoner.
We’d seen that it was possible to stay in houses in the village but the hotel costs seemed high before visiting Wales. After seeing just how lovely Portmeirion was, though, we did say that if we went back then we’d probably have to book a room even if only for a night.
The architecture of Portmeirion village is lovely but it’s the colours of the buildings that really stand out. We didn’t have the greatest weather but the greens of the surrounding trees and woodland were still vibrant and contrasted wonderfully against the primary paint colours all around.
From the village itself we headed down to the beach that could be glimpsed through the trees at several vantage points through Portmeirion. A stone boat and other buildings in keeping with the architecture of the main tourist attraction were present as well as sweeping views across flat sand. It was easy to picture Patrick McGoohan being chased by and captured by one of The Prisoner‘s Rovers.
In addition to the main village and beach there was a pleasant woodland area with lake and Japanese-style bridges and seating areas as well as numerous wooden carvings of animal life.
A Strange Coincidence
Portmeirion was absolutely lovely and on a bright, sunny day would probably have been even more so. A couple of years after we visited the village I saw someone posting photos of Portmeirion on a forum and made a comment that we’d visited the place as well. As we got talking it turned out we’d visited on the same day and after a bit of sleuthing on both our parts we discovered I’d taken a photo of her and her husband on one side of the village square while she had taken a photo of me and my wife opposite them at the same time. A small, weird world.