No 6 at Portmeirion

We wanted another sunny day for a visit to Portmeirion so that the colourful buildings would be at their finest and our collective cameras, which have taken almost 1,000 pictures so far this week, would make the most of them.

Portmeirion is just around the estuary from Porthmadog, although you can't easily see it from the coastline - it's secrets are contained until you've parked up and paid your entry fee. It is though a beautiful site, both in terms of its natural setting and its striking architecture.







The idea of a village on the peninsula was born in the early 1920s, when architect Sir Clough Williams-Ellis bought land on the site and changed the original Welsh name of the area - Port because of its coastal locality and Meirion to reflect the historic Welsh county in which it was situated. Williams-Ellis already had his idea of developing a village on such a site, in the belief that he could enhance the surroundings and create something even greater.

Portmeirion was built in two stages, from 1925 to 1939 and 1954 to 1976, in a mainly Italianate style but not modelled, as many thought, on Portofino in Italy. Although the buildings and gardens have an Italian feel, many of the buildings were salvaged from elsewhere and rebuilt, all to a carefully thought out plan.

Although visitors come to see the site and Williams-Ellis's creation, it is also known as the location for the cult 60s TV series 'The Prisoner'. Patrick McGoohan starred as the lead character, known only as 'No 6', who was housed in one of the cottages in the village. Dad was particularly keen to see the village because of its association with the series, whereas the rest of us were just curious to see the distinctive buildings and explore the surroundings.

We spent the best part of the afternoon in the village and the woodland walks, so had only a short time to explore Criccieth and its medieval castle as planned on the way back. From the short walk we made around the town its easy to see why Criccieth is a popular place to visit, but we as the light started to fade it was time to head back to the cottage.