North Wales 2012
For a special birthday celebration we rented a cottage in June in Dolwyddelan, a small Welsh village on the outskirts of Snowdonia National Park.
The old stone cottage, set in the tiny village, had been extended and well modernised and suited our family gathering.
Dolwyddelan village is tiny, with magnificent views, being set on the outskirts of Snowdonia. We had some bracing walks from the cottage.
Being typical Welsh, there were robust chapels (such as the one, left of centre in the photo) in every village. However this one, Moriah Calvinist Chapel, in Dolwyddelan had been “decommissioned” and at the time was on sale as an 8-bedroomed property for £1M+
The thought of dodging flying Poos in the Welsh countryside……….
St Gwyddelan’s Church
Just a hundred yards from our cottage, this small church, 500 years old, was still in use and popular with the locals.
Swallow Falls is a large waterfall in the nearby town of Betws-y-Coed.
Dolwyddelan Castle Unlike most castles in Wales, built by the English, for the purposes of subduing the Welsh, this small castle was built in the early 13th Century by Wales’ most powerful prince, Llywelyn the Great.
The strong keep was restored in Victorian times.
There are magnificent views from here, but unfortunately the weather made the visibility poor both times we visited the castle.
Ann shooting Eleanor & Russell on the ramparts.
Well if we were staying in Snowdonia, we had to trek up Mount Snowdon! Ann, Karen & me on the Rhyd Ddu Path.
Portmeirion
Built as an extravagant folly by the architect Sir Clough William-Ellis between 1925 – 1975. The design was inspired by Portofino (see our Piedmont 2006 photos). William-Ellis was the unfortunate architect of the previous tourist centre at the top of Snowdon, so derided by Prince (King) Charles. Never mind, he made amends with Portmeirion!
The intention was to show how a beautiful site could be developed without spoiling it. William-Ellis’ motto was “Cherish the past, adorn the present and construct for the future”.
Port Meirion is associated with popular culture in numerous ways. For instance Noel Coward wrote Blythe Spirit while staying here and it has been used as the backdrop of many films (check out the Wikipedia entry for a partial list). However it is best known as the Village in the 1960’s cult, surreal spy classic The Prisoner, TV series.
