Giants North Wales

Portmeirion

For those of a certain age, Portmeirion will always be about a big bouncing ball. Or an enormous game of chess. Cult TV show The Prisoner (catchphrase: “I am not a number, I am a free man!”) was filmed here in the Sixties.

It perfectly showcased the endearing strangeness of this Italianate folly of a village on its own private peninsula. Portmeirion was designed by Sir Clough Williams-Ellis to show how a naturally beautiful site could be developed without spoiling it.

It took him 50 years. In the process he created a “home for fallen buildings” as wrecks of all architectural styles from both Britain and abroad were rescued, dismantled and rebuilt. Somehow it works. Brilliantly.

Come for the day or see the Mediterranean piazza and surrounding gardens at their best – in solitude. You can stay over in a self-catering cottage or one of the village’s two hotels: Hotel Portmeirion and Castell Deudraeth. They both have four Visit Wales stars. And both have superb restaurants serving local food such as Snowdonia lamb and lobster from the Llŷn Peninsula.