Portmeirion is one of my favourite Welsh villages, except for the fact that there is nothing Welsh about the place and it’s not really a village at all but an incredibly surreal resort and hotel! It’s certainly in Wales, in Gwynedd, to be precise, though it’s oddly out of place, beautifully situated, as it is, on the Dwyrd Estuary.
I've stayed there and I just love the design, the layout, the atmosphere and the setting. Designed and built by Sir Clough William-Ellis supposedly in the style of an Italian village it resembles no Italian village that I’ve ever seen, no, not even Portofino! But it has a generally exotic atmosphere suggestive of different worlds and distant places, a kind of Platonic Mediterranean settlement, an ideal, if you like, in stone. I was there under a leaden sky, not a southern one, which simply added to the charm and general sense of unreality.
It’s an inspiring place. It inspired Noel Coward to write Blythe Spirit while he was staying there. Film makers have used it as a location, no doubt because it is here and nowhere at one and the same time, suggestive of different times and other dimensions. It was used once in an episode of Doctor Who, the long-running BBC sci-fi series.
However, it’s probably best known as “The Village” in The Prisoner, a 1960s spy drama starring Patrick McGoohan, a show which subsequently inspired a cult following. Portmeirion still hosts annual fan conventions and not far from the entrance there is a shop, once serving as McGoohan’s home in the show, which sells Prisoner souvenirs. I’ve seen a couple of episodes of the series and while it was probably quite innovative and challenging for the day it seemed to me like so much hyper-active nonsense, George Orwell by way of Magical Mystery Tour, the sort of thing that I’m sure went down very well in the swinging psychedelic sixties!
I’m not going to go over the plot in detail, and I’m sure some of you may know the general premise, if not from the original then from a recent remake. In short it concerns an agent who resigns from his job suddenly and without reason, only to find himself captive in a mysterious community, a sort of upmarket holiday camp where everyone is simply known as a number. There the authorities try to extract any residual secrets from McGoohan, known simply as Number Six. Refusing to give away anything, and asserting that he is not a number but a free man, he attempts to escape only to be pursued by – wait for it – a giant balloon!
Still, for all its nonsense, the producers could not have chosen a better setting for their bogus metaphysics, a dream within a dream. If you've never been do go. I’m sure you will love the place as much as I love it. Be seeing you. :-)
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i didn't watch it at the time, but have seen it since and enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, were the old Welsh counties not reinstated?
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ReplyDeleteI don't know, David. I think the Welsh names still apply; they certainly did when I was there and that was only two years ago.
ReplyDeleteI spent an idyllic birthday weekend staying there a few years back - it's particularly enchanting to be there at night when it's subtly lit and not thronged by visitors, particularly as P McGoohan died just before we went and the place was full of 'Prisoner' nerds in mourning.
ReplyDelete@ David - yes some Welsh counties were reinstated (with Welsh versions of their names). Gwynedd remained but had Anglesey removed from it. The other old counties remain as district councils within the unitary authorities.
Greg, yes, it's at magical place. It's especially charming in the evening after the hordes have departed.
ReplyDeleteMust visit. I remember the series from the first time round - yes I really am that old! Never got into it though - was probably too young at the time :)
ReplyDeleteI will certainly go to visit the village though - it looks beautiful. So many interesting places to visit in the UK. I tend to head south to find the sun when I take a break.
As so often happens, your writing opens up interesting facts and places. Keep going little Imp. xxx
I will, Financeman, thanks to the encouragement of people like you. :-)
ReplyDeleteMost interesting place,the veins of the dragon run close to the surface in the western hills the energies are strong there.
ReplyDeleteThe place is full of magic and energy, Anthony.
ReplyDeleteI saw bits of it in the early 70's. (I think it was a big eyeball following him wasn't it?) You're the first person I've ever encountered rubbishing it. Most commentaries rave about it. I remember feeling that there was a sinister undertone to it that implied that there was something much deeper and nastier to what was happening than was apparent from the visible action. It made me uneasy and I didn't watch any more of it.
ReplyDeleteGosh, Retarius, I'm not sure. I thought it was a balloon. It comes from the sea bed and then bounced along the surface. There is an episode of The Simpsons based on the show in which Homer bursts the thing with a needle!
ReplyDeleteYou're right, as usual. My memory, as usual, added embellishing details..I'll have a blog about that. Here's a link to the Wikipedia article thereon:
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rover_(The_Prisoner)
Thank goodness for Wikipedia!
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