Portmeirion Village
Portmeirion is one of the most unusual and delightful places in Britain: an entirely planned architectural village on the edge of an estuary in North Wales, designed and built over five decades by the architect Sir Clough Williams-Ellis as a personal artistic statement and a demonstration that the development of buildings could enhance rather than diminish the beauty of a natural setting. The result is a place unlike anywhere else in Britain or indeed in Europe, a theatrical, colourful, slightly surreal collection of buildings arranged around a central piazza and gardens overlooking the Dwyryd Estuary. Williams-Ellis began purchasing the estate in 1925 and spent the next fifty years creating his "home for fallen buildings," incorporating architectural salvage from demolished English country houses alongside his own new buildings designed in his personal interpretation of the Mediterranean vernacular. The Italian coastal village was his primary inspiration, particularly Portofino on the Ligurian coast, and the combination of campanile, loggia, piazza, classical statuary and colourful facades set against a backdrop of Welsh woodland and estuary creates a genuinely Mediterranean atmosphere that catches most visitors pleasantly by surprise. The village contains a hotel, a range of holiday cottages, restaurants, shops and galleries within the historic buildings, allowing visitors to stay within the estate and experience it at a pace that casual day visitors cannot. The formal gardens behind the village are subtropical in character, taking advantage of the mild climate created by the Gulf Stream's influence on this corner of Wales to support palm trees, tree ferns and exotic planting that enhances the Mediterranean illusion. Portmeirion became internationally famous as the filming location for the enigmatic 1960s television series The Prisoner, in which Patrick McGoohan played a former spy held captive in a mysterious village by unknown forces. The series used Portmeirion's unique architectural character to powerful and surreal effect, and the programme's cult following continues to bring devoted fans to the location decades after its original broadcast. A collection of Prisoner memorabilia within the village acknowledges this cultural connection. The surrounding woodland and coastal landscape extend the pleasures of a visit beyond the village itself, with walks through woodland above the estuary providing views back toward the buildings and across the water to the mountains of Snowdonia.