Competitive pricing of airline flights to Britain over the past 10 years has made travelling by ferry from Dublin Port and Dun Laoghaire to Holyhead one of the more outmoded methods of getting from A to B. My own personal experiences of travelling from Dublin to London via Holyhead - a journey I made many, many times from childhood to my early 20s - are rooted in a combined smell of Guinness and vomit, smoke-filled, cold compartments, and a comfort zone akin to a military assault course.
Thank god all this has changed!
The ferry trip from Dun Laoghaire to Holyhead on the Stena HSS was a revelation. Gone were the overcrowding and bulky suitcases blocking the passageways (there's loads of room, and the suitcases are checked in prior to boarding - now there's posh for you!). In its place was room to roam, fresh air, and a choice of eateries that would please the most fussy of traveller.
But why north Wales? What is there beyond Holyhead except a railway track leading down to London?
The perception of north Wales being a wilderness of sorts can be put down to ignorance on our part. If you have a car, a map, a tour schedule, and a few free days, you'll be pleasantly shocked at the amount you can see and do. And if you have kids in tow - as we did - do not worry, for they will be well catered for.
Of course, parents can - and for their own sanity, must! - be selfish, too. The main reason for our trip was to explore the baroque Italianate village of Portmeirion, a curiosity we had only glimpsed on TV travel shows. Yet, because we reckoned this might not be ideal for children - in an architecturally caring and sharing way, needless to say - we compromised by preceding our trip to Portmeirion with a shaky train ride all the way up to the peak of Snowdonia.
It was fun in an adventurous kids-trip kind of way, but be warned: the weather at the bottom of the mountain is unlike that at the top, and what might start out as warm and breezy could end up wet, cold and windy. Pack jumpers, boots, and raingear just in case.
As for Portmeirion, where does one begin?
The creation of eminent architect Sir Clough Williams-Ellis (his credo: "Cherish the past, adorn the present, and construct the future"), Portmeirion was borne out of an obsessive need to build a place that would be free from outside interference, a purposebuilt village in Clough-Ellis' words, that "could develop as a very beautiful site without defiling it".
Born in 1883, Clough-Ellis, after the first World War, set sail around the coast of Britain to find a suitable island on which to build his dream hamlet. After visiting over two dozen possible sites with no success, he broadened his outlook and began to search on the mainland. Ironically, he found a perfect spot on a private peninsula less than five miles away from his family home. s Brondanw.CloughEllis bought the property, and went on to design and build Portmeirion during two main periods, 1926-39, and 1954-72.
Architecturally, Portmeirion is a mishmash of styles, vaguely described by CloughEllis as a "wilful pleasantry". There are other descriptions, such as a calculated naivete with deliberate eyetraps, forced and fake perspectives, heretical constructions, unorthodox colour mixtures, and general architectural "levity". The joy of it is to take it as a whole, and to balance its impact with its surreal quality. There's no doubt that some will find it garish and vulgar, a very personal architecture of contrivance, chaos, and whimsy, but the pleasure of walking around somewhere like this is in its sheer unpredictability.
The layout of Portmeirion itself - on a steeply sloping site - is also quite difficult to understand at first sight. It has a Disney-like topography, complex and inter-related. Again, the pleasure is in the details, from the cottages and hotel on site to the shops. In particular, the hotel - completely refurbished and triumphantly re-opened in 1988 following damage by fire in 1981 - is worthy of attention.
Based on an early Victorian villa situated near the shore, the hotel was opened in 1926, instantly enjoying a celebrity clientele, something which has continued - albeit to a lesser degree - to this day. The writers George Bernard Shaw, Bertrand Russell and H G Wells were regular visitors, while Noel Coward wrote Blithe Spirit during a twoweek stay there in 1941. The cult 1960s TV series, The Prisoner, was based in Portmeirion, as was Liam Neeson while filming Under Suspicion. And when the three remaining Beatles were asked where they wanted to be interviewed for their anniversary documentary series, it was George Harrison who chose Portmeirion.
You don't have to stay there, of course. Over 250,000 visitors per year choose not to. Instead, they stroll through this quirk of unique architecture, smiling at the surprises and gaping at the views. Yet for those who do choose to stay for two or more days in either the hotel or the equally high standard cottages, you can rest assured that, when the day trippers leave at 5 p.m., the village is yours and yours alone. Heaven!
Gettint There
Stena Line sail from Dun Laoghaire and Dublin Port to Holyhead daily. We sailed on the Stena HSS (High Speed Service), a hassle-free and child-friendly journey that took less than two hours. A five-day return ticket (two adults and car) costs £194. Price valid until October 9th. From October 10th to December 18th, price is £174. A weekend return ticket on Stena HSS (outward and return on any sailing between Friday and Tuesday over the same weekend, car, five people) costs £199, and is valid until October 7th. Contact Stena's short breaks number, (01) 2047733. Irish Ferries also run regular services between Dublin Port and Holyhead. Booking number, (01) 6610511.
Accommodation
There is a multitude of places to stay in the North Wales area, ranging from B & B to four-star hotel accommodation. We stayed in the Bryn Eglwys Country House Hotel (01766) 890210, a family run former Georgian farmhouse in the picture postcard village of Beddgelert, itself equidistantly situated between Portmeirion and Snowdonia National Park and Mountain Range. The Hotel Portmeirion (01766) 770228, has a special offer from November 3rd to December 23rd: if you book two nights dinner and B & B, a third night's accommodation is free.
