Michael Pelham enters a fantasy world at
The Portmeirion Hotel in Wales

Portmeirion - the hotel and village in North Wales - is an extraordinary and wonderful phenomenon. It was created by the architect Sir Clough Williams-Ellis, who had long had a dream of building an ideal village on some romantic coast. He found a beautiful site on the Aber penisula in 1925, the hotel was opened in 1926 and the village was completed in 1973, in time for Sir Clough's 90th birthday.

It is pure theatre: an Italianate village in miniature, nestling in a North Wales valley looking towards miles of golden sands - when the tide is out. There is a village square, with a pond and fountain, a pantheon or dome, a grotto, a campanile, a little Town Hall, a triumphal arch, a number of charming shops, including, of course, one selling the famous Portmeirion pottery. Accomodation is available either in the main hotel or in one of the many rooms or suites or cottages dotted about the village. It is unique and a colourful delight and is surrounded by 70 acres of sub-tropical woodland gardens. There are said to be twenty miles of paths criss-crossing the woods, crags and valleys, many of which lead to rocky coves and sandy beaches all along the headland.

Avid TV viewers may have already seen Portmeirion, as Patrick McGoohan found it the perfect location for his television classic "The Prisoner".

Portmeirion has had its ups and downs - the latter generally due to temporary lack of funds - and the hotel itself was destroyed by fire in 1981. It has been brilliantly rebuilt and delightfully and amusingly furnished. The furnishings and decoration of the rooms in the hotel and in the village (which is only three or four minutes walk from the hotel) are of a very high order and full of character. Everywhere there is great comfort. All rooms have private bath-rooms, television and direct dial telephones. A few years ago the village and its properties looked somewhat tired but now everything has been freshened up to a very good standard.

The views from the rooms in the hotel and in the village are for the most part marvellous and in some cases spectacular. The estuary is very shallow and it is a great delight to see the miles of sand at low water changing shape quickly as the tide comes in. You can see this particularly well if you take the delightful walk from the hotel along the path, past a statue of Lord Nelson turning a blind eye, by rhododendrons and wild flowers, to an imitation light-house by a sandy bay. Or nearly as well from the comfort of a window table in the dining room.

The public rooms in the hotel are unusual. There is a morning room, in pale turquoise with an extraordinary fire-place; a sort of writing room with a big bow window with seats along it; a bar decorated like a Moorish tent and the big curvilinear dining-room - all with wonderful views of the estuary.

But man cannot live on views alone and, I am delighted to say, the food is very good and surprisingly reasonably priced. I salute their pricing policy which helps to ensure a high occupancy rate in spite of their remote location. I started dinner with lobster bisque which was full of flavour - generally only achieved by ensuring that there is no meanness with the lobster and by adding a little ground-up shell. My companion had an excellent terrine of tuna and salmon with a fennel and mustard dressing - an unusual dish which was pronounced excellent. Alternatives (we are still on the first course) could have been guinea fowl with taglietelle of carrots and courgettes served with a blueberry sauce; galia melon with berries and caramelised apple; smoked salmon with salad leaves.

For the main course I had something called braised Henry of lamb with a cassoulette of white beans. This turned out to be a steak of lamb taken from the shoulder and was as good a piece of lamb as I have eaten in a long time. It was full of taste, tender and beautifully and lightly cooked. The beans were a fine accompaniment. My companion had roasted monkfish wrapped in Parma ham on a bed of Provencale vegetables, olives and sun dried tomatoes. The definite flavour of monkfish was able to stand up well to the unusual additions. Alternatives would have been a Welsh rib eye steak with oyster mushrooms and pepper sauce; roast loin of Brecon venison with a caramelised onion tartlet, roasted tomatoes and a herb topping; tranche of salmon with prawns, asparagus and a dill cream; a vegetarian dish of mille-feuille of goats' cheese, aubergine, spinach and tomato with puff pastry and a celeriac cream; loin of Welsh lamb with pak choi, roasted radishes, cherry tomatoes and mushroom caps.

From this one can see how inventive the chef is (but not perversely so!). Everything is attractively presented and the food is served hot on hot plates - which all too often, sadly, doesn't happen.

The large number of Welsh farmhouse cheeses are interesting and in good condition and the puddings include apricot mousse between chocolate leaves (a splendid combination); rhubarb crumble with its own sorbet; honey and walnut mousse with a chocolate sauce.

The wine list is extensive, indeed distinguished, with many fine things in it at very reasonable prices. The house wines (3 red and 3 white) are £10.50 and very decent. House champagne, a blanc de noirs, is good value at £24.50. There is a long list of red Bordeaux wines, some at near bargain rates for a first class hotel: Grand-Puy-Lacoste '92 at £25, for instance, or Leoville-Barton '92 at £28.50 or Giscours '86 at £39, as well as some more expensive wines leading up to Lafite '83 at £110. There are fine Burgundies too, including a Gevrey Chambertin at £27.50 and a Chambolle-Musigny '94 at £39. There are good white Burgundies, including Chassagne-Montrachet and Puligny-Montrachet and even a Chambolle-Musigny. There are wines from the Loire, from Italy, Spain, Australia, California, Argentina, Chile, Mexico South Africa and the Lebanon. It really is a very interesting list.

Everyone should visit Portmeirion (like Venice) at least once in their life-time, but if you are driving all the way to North Wales you should try to stay for several nights - not only because it is a delight in itself but because there are so many splendid things to see near by. There are Caernarfon, Harlech, Cricieth and Penrhyn Castles, Powys castle with its splendid gardens, Bodnant garden, Ffestiniog railway and of course Y Wyddfa, Mount Snowdon itself. You can walk to the top of Snowdonia's highest peak without too much difficulty, if the weather is good, or you can take the little mountain railway.

"Croeso!" they say to you when you arrive at the gate-house at Portmeirion, or "Welcome!", for they are mostly bi-lingual here. And one is indeed made to feel welcome by all the staff at this delightful place. I have stayed here many times over the years and and am always eager to return, to walk again along the path by the sea and to watch the movement of the tide, before coming back to a delicious dinner with a truly memorable view.
- Michael Pelham, July 1998

The cost of your meal: A two course dinner costs £25, three courses for £30. And the Welsh harpist who plays a proper Welsh harp charmingly during dinner is included!

The Hotel Portmeirion, Portmeirion, Gwynedd LL48 6ET, Wales
Tel: 01766 770 228 Fax: 01766 771 331 e-mail: hotel@portmeirion.wales.com

Rooms start at £100 per room per night. Two night breaks are available at a discount.

Michael Pelham is proprietor of Pelham Tours who organise gastronomic, sporting and other tours in the UK and in Europe.

Pelham Tours: Old Way House, Beaulieu, Hampshire SO42 7YL.
Tel: 01590 612264 Fax: 01590 612747. e-mail: peltours@interalpha.co.uk