Portmeirion - Lego on a grander scale
Mar. 16th, 2024 03:58 pmI can't believe it is mid-March, with distinct signs of spring everywhere from the lengthening days - it is no longer a surprise that it is light at quarter-past five - to the blossom about to come out on the dwarf ornamental cherries in front of the house, which herald the wild cherries. I am more than ready for this winter to be over because it has been almost unmitigated crap, involving missing five weeks of work due to a sinus infection that ended up needing two lots of antibiotics, and which in retrospect I ought to have noticed at once, except that the one sign of infection other than exhaustion had been diagnosed as migraine in the autumn. Wrongly, it turns out. So I'm ready for all that to be over. The one good thing of February is that I finally got my central heating sorting out, with two replacement radiators and two additional ones, which was done by a whole gang of plumbers taking over the house for the day, and means that my central heating is now a lot more effective, a lot quieter, and not going to cost any more to run and quite possibly less.
March started rather better, as I managed to feel brighter just in time for a weekend away with![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
antisoppist. Not sufficiently bright to drive, and since there was a rail replacement bus service making the return train journey from North Wales more like eight hours than an already grim six, we therefore arranged for antisoppist to pick me up in Worcester in the car and drive the rest of the way. Which from my point of view worked fine, even with the unexpected 3 hour break in Worcester due to the closure of the M5. Obviously that worked rather less well for antisoppist.
Anyway, the reason for this attempt to traverse the land via its increasingly crumbling infrastructure was for a trip to that utterly bonkers personal project Portmeirion, in which a largely self-trained architect called Clough Williams-Ellis decided he wanted to build an Italianate village on a Welsh peninsula as a tourist attraction. As you do. Or do if you have that kind of money. The trip was courtesy of a birthday present fromantisoppist's siblings, which was very generous of them, although there were times when we thought a weekend away slightly closer might have been a good idea.
But we had an excellent time. Portmeirion itself is completely ridiculous* even when you aren't a character in The Prisoner, but fun to look around, and the hotel and food were excellent. I had to resist the Hairy Bikers tribute Welsh cake tiramisu on account of being immensely full of venison so a blood orange souffle seemed wiser, but I shall give it a go some time myself, albeit with purchased Welsh cakes. Well worth a visit if you are within reasonable traveling distance or popping to Snowdonia, though there comes a point when you could get to actual Italy more easily, and that has better weather.
( Some photos )
March started rather better, as I managed to feel brighter just in time for a weekend away with
antisoppist. Not sufficiently bright to drive, and since there was a rail replacement bus service making the return train journey from North Wales more like eight hours than an already grim six, we therefore arranged for antisoppist to pick me up in Worcester in the car and drive the rest of the way. Which from my point of view worked fine, even with the unexpected 3 hour break in Worcester due to the closure of the M5. Obviously that worked rather less well for antisoppist. Anyway, the reason for this attempt to traverse the land via its increasingly crumbling infrastructure was for a trip to that utterly bonkers personal project Portmeirion, in which a largely self-trained architect called Clough Williams-Ellis decided he wanted to build an Italianate village on a Welsh peninsula as a tourist attraction. As you do. Or do if you have that kind of money. The trip was courtesy of a birthday present from
antisoppist's siblings, which was very generous of them, although there were times when we thought a weekend away slightly closer might have been a good idea. But we had an excellent time. Portmeirion itself is completely ridiculous* even when you aren't a character in The Prisoner, but fun to look around, and the hotel and food were excellent. I had to resist the Hairy Bikers tribute Welsh cake tiramisu on account of being immensely full of venison so a blood orange souffle seemed wiser, but I shall give it a go some time myself, albeit with purchased Welsh cakes. Well worth a visit if you are within reasonable traveling distance or popping to Snowdonia, though there comes a point when you could get to actual Italy more easily, and that has better weather.
( Some photos )