As the Wind Blows

When you were a child did you ever dream up an imaginary land where you would go and play, either by yourself, with your brothers and sisters, friends and imaginary friends? A place where you would go and play anytime, day or night until you dreamt up another imaginary place or you grew up and joined the real world? Well eccentric architect Clough Williams-Ellis actually built his fantasy world in Portmeirion. A quirky, colourful little seaside village with buildings made up from broken pieces of manors, gardens that are perfect, but not quite normal, a boat that’s not really a boat, but part of the seaside walkway, a lighthouse that is built purely for that fact that it looks pretty and woods that house hidden playgrounds and even a Japanese Garden.

I’ve been waiting to write about Portmerion since I finally saw it with my own eyes 10 days ago. If I had decided to only write one entry for this road trip, and not, well it looks like I’ll end up writing 10 entries, the whole entry would have been about Portmerion. Now that I’ve written about it and reviewed the photos I don’t feel that I’ve done the place enough justice. All I can say is that if you’re ever in Wales you HAVE to visit this place!

The other place we stopped at that day was Holywell and as the name implies, is a place where there’s a holy well. The well sprung up when a knight attempted to cut off a young girl’s neck and the waters healed the girl’s wounds and she lived to a ripe old age. The whole area is very peaceful and the well itself has been around for so many centuries. People who have been cured have written (grafittied) their names on the nearby walls which I felt took away from the beauty of the place. If you never get a chance to visit Lourdes, at least pay a visit to Holywell.

After Brighton, I was quite surprised to find that the beach of the coastal town of Aberystwyth actually had sand. Not beautiful golden sand like Australia, but at least it was sand as opposed to pebbles. With places like Portmeirion, sandy beaches and ragged mountains and quaint little farms it's no wonder some of my favourite children's authors have come out of Wales. I think if I lived anywhere it the UK it would definitely be Wales.