Portmeirion is a British creation.  Wandering around the village many people feel that they’re actually wandering around a Mediterranean village, an easy trap to fall into on a hot sunny day.  The bright cheery building colours look as good on a November day as they do in June.  What’s even more astounding is that many of these buildings, or parts of the buildings have been reclaimed or saved from other structures from across the British Isles.

            Clough Williams-Ellis certainly had vision when he bought the land in 1925 for the princely sum of £5,000.  If he wasn’t using reclaimed materials, he often used the local natural geology to its advantage.  Take the Gate House as an example.  This is one of the first buildings you walk through when entering the village, and it was the first to be built after the Second World War.  The right hand side of the arch is built into the existing rock face, providing solid foundations for the three bedroomed holiday cottage above.  Beatles fanatics may already know that Brian Epstein used to hire the Gate House for the entire summer season in the 1960’s.

            Having wandered through the Gate House, the path continues under Bridge House, which is also built onto the rock face.  On the other side is a wide area known as the Battery.  It’s called this because Clough Williams-Ellis placed a couple of small cannons around its castellated terrace.  Originally these canons were found at Belan Fort on the Menai Straits in North Wales and were designed to repel Napoleon attacks. 

            The construction of Portmeirion was spread over many decades, and during this time Clough Williams-Ellis collected materials that he knew he would make use of one day.  The Prior’s Lodging has an ornate front door, which was actually one of three he acquired, with the other two being used elsewhere on the estate.  And in the huge Bell Tower that dominates the estate, there used to hang an old chiming turret clock whose bells would declare the hour.  Clough saved this clock from a demolished brewery in London!

            Clough’s reclamations were not always used immediately.  Further round from the Battery, visitors can glimpse the Pantheon, a huge domed building now housing a gallery where visitors can buy paintings by local artist, Rob Piercey.  Forming an entrance to the dome is a large gothic porch, which was originally a vast fireplace made from red Runcorn sandstone in Cheshire, that Clough had acquired 20 years previously.  He clearly believed that everything had a use, even though he didn’t always know at the time of acquirement, what the use might be!

            Following the main path through the village, visitors walk along the top of the Bristol Colonnade.  This impressive structure was originally constructed and sited at Arnos Court in Bristol, in 1760.  Unfortunately war damage meant that it had fallen into decay, but as a scheduled ancient monument it couldn’t be left to fall into ruin.  Clough Williams-Ellis was permitted to move it on condition that it was restored and rescheduled as an Ancient Monument.  Brick by brick it was dismantled and rebuilt in Portmeirion in 1959.

            Wandering round to the main Piazza, you can step through into the Gloriette, a spectacular balcony, made with odds and ends.  Back in 1930, Clough had rescued the Colonade from Hooton Hall in Cheshire, which had eight tall columns.  Thirty years later, when he wanted to construct the Gloriette, Clough suddenly remembered that he’d bought these columns and set about looking for where he’d put them.  Ironically, they’d been stored and someone had built a garden on top of them, and they had to be re-excavated.  Four of the columns now form part of the Gloriette over looking the Piazza.  At the other end of the vista from the Gloriette, is the Gothic Pavilion, salvaged from Nerquis Hall in Flintshire. 

            In 1954, an old seaman’s home in Liverpool was demolished, and Clough managed to purchase a job lot of 30 mermaid panels.  Wandering around the village it is possible to spot where he’s recycled them in the buildings. Three of them are used to link the four columns in the Gloriette, and six were used to create the Gazebo that sits high on the rocks overlooking the village.  A Bandstand was built in 1961 to hide the village’s electricity substation, and it comprises 10 arches, nine of which contain more of those mermaid arches.

            Down by the quayside, next to the hotel, is an ingenious use of the curvature of the quay, which gives the illusion that a boat is in dock.  It isn’t a boat but part of the quay itself.  Clough had originally purchased an old trading boat that was once moored to the quayside here.  However, during a storm one night, the vessel was carried out across the estuary where it was stranded on Ynys Gifftan Island.  True to form though, Clough salvaged what he could, and sections of the main mast now act as pillars to support the Hotel’s dining room roof!

            A path can be followed from the Hotel along the spectacular estuary, to a Lighthouse marking Portmeirion’s southernmost point.  It’s a folly with a spectacular view, and an interesting past.  It’s been constructed from some sheet metal, and an upturned pig boiler!

            Portmeirion is a village worth returning to, time and time again.  It’s quite easy to spend a whole day here relaxing, just wandering around the village, it’s gardens or the wide sandy beaches on the estuary.  It’s ironic that Portmeirion is often referred to as Italianate, when it’s actually a collection of re-used British architecture.  How magical is that?  Portmeirion is a very British theme park indeed.