So we are now here in Portmeirion for a while to celebrate my older brothers 60th birthday. There are plenty of surprises left for Rick in the days to come. Dianne has done an awesome job organizing everyone and everything. The House is wonderful and the beds were really comfortable. We were up early on Saturday morning and spent some time catching up on the Blog. I was five days behind because every day was so jam-packed with activities that there was no time or energy left to blog at the end of each day. Today we decided to risk a journey out to the Portmeirion village. The forecast was for showers but hey we are in Wales.
The village was all of 1 mile away so we set off in the car and were there in no time. 12 Pounds each to get. Our photos are a little less bright being a cloudy day and all. Our arrival started with a brief tour of the village. This village was built entirely around the desires of an architects vision for an Italian style village in the mold of Portofino, The village became the backdrop to numerous TV Shows and Movies but was made famous 50 years ago today with the filming of the TV Series ‘The Prisoner’ Can’t say I remember the Show but it put the village on the map.
The village is fully populated but nobody lives here. The architect had numerous friends who would come here and stay. People like Jools Holland who built his London studios around the village theme.
After the tour we took the village train on a little expedition around the outside of the village.
Needed a Chiropractor to fix our backs after that. It was slow and bumpy. Could easily have walked the distance in half the time. part way round the train stopped so we could get photos overlooking the village.
The showers had no yet materialized even though they were threatening.
After the train ride it was still not raining so we decided to do the coastal walk. This was a 45 minute stroll around the headland. It was an easy walk and would be closer to 35 at our normal walk speed. Beautiful scenery all around.
Just as we were finishing the walk the showers started. Jeanette needed the Loo and so we decided a cup of tea and a coffee was in order. Went to the Cafe and relaxed for a wee while before hitting the pottery shops. We were told that Portmeirion pottery was famous world over. Some of it was OK, most of it was rubbish (or at least that’s my option). There were a couple of nice pieces and Jeanette ended up buying one. Hope it stays intact on the plane ride home!.
The rain started to fall heavily so we decided it was time to head back to base. Rick did not know that today there was a party organised for him and that the next surprise was friends of theirs from Cambourne (Where Rick and Dianne Live) Stuart and Cam and Rick’s Goddaughter Lexi, who is 11, were at the house when we returned. Rick looked like a stunned mullet. His only question was ‘What are you doing here?’ They were here out of context and he took a moment to put it all together. Jeanette and I made ourselves a little scarce so they could all have a great reunion as part of the surprise. I went off and had a shower and Jeanette started on her makeup. Dianne had set a ‘Peaky Blinders’ theme to the party. We had no idea what that was so found the show on Netflix and watched a couple of episode.
The show is really good, set in Birmingham after the war. The Peaky Blinders are like the local Mob. Sam Neill is the law. I based my outfit on him. There are very few women in the show but they all wore furs and gloves with Cloche hats. A few were more along the Flapper line so Jeanette based her outfit on the former. How did we do?
Overall everyone dressed to the nines and looked fantastic. We did a wee photo shoot in ‘The Library’ to commemorate the occasion.
After the photo shoot the crew got down to the serious business just like on the TV Show. Food and a beverage or two. Don’t mind if I do, Thanks!. The night ended with cake and a very happy Rick.
The McGrath's Travel Adventures 