…Dark skies above… Bright and colourful Portmeirion, this morning was drab, dreary and stormy. The wind and rain were all in a rage throughout the night, and brought Ken down so much that upon waking up he didn’t feel like doing the Prisoner opening dialogue (“Where am I?”…) Luckily, spirits were brightened with the weather report from BBC Wales that indicated the storm was to be temporary and sun was likely to be seen in the afternoon. With the day seeming to get better, we embarked on the short journey to the hotel proper for breakfast. The dining experience, while more informal than dinner, was still incredible. Jerry went with the breakfast buffet, while Ken went for the full Welsh – which is just like the full English, with eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, baked beans, tomato and mushrooms. Communal toast and croissants were delivered as well. The Portmeirion Hotel Restaurant is clearly a remarkable establishment, and worth every pence…

 After breakfast we began walking around the grounds by following a path from the hotel around the edge of the water – until we hit a gusty point, where we headed back then up a path that took us above the hotel and back to the main road. Our day was spent mainly walking around, looking at the various buildings, browsing the many shops. The incredible thing to note is how much smaller the Portmeirion Village actually is, compared to how big it looks in the series the Prisoner. For instance, in the series, to get from Number Six’s residence to the Green Dome was down the steps, through the square, across the street and up the steps. In reality, the green dome is practically next door. The Green Dome, which is black right now – as it was recently replaced, and hasn’t achieved it’s patina yet – is incredibly small compared to how it is portrayed on screen. Truly, things do appear much bigger on TV than they do in person…

All this walking around was really tiring, so we took a small break in our room. The cleaning staff had already been in, changed out the towels and refilled the sherry. It is suspected that the restaurant staff alerts the cleaning staff when a resident is out – very Village like… We took care of some housekeeping of our own, as Jerry was trying to dry some whites she hand washed the previous night, and Ken was processing the digital photos from the past day.

After resting, we hiked around some more, taking pictures and stopping in the shops some more. We took in lunch at the cafeteria, which is in the town hall building (as it was used in the Prisoner.) Then more hiking around, round in circles, searching the shops for the elusive international postcard postage – and there was none to be had. We eventually found out what the equivalent postage in regular postage – thanks to the reception desk, who also booked our taxi for the next morning, our reservation for dinner, and to let them know the Portmeirion channel on the TV hasn’t been working. Then there was more walking around, plus an audio-visual display about the evolution of Portmeirion, and a surprise jet fighter fly-by (could have been the scene from near the end of “Many Happy Returns”…)

 We eventually retired again to the Royal Dolphin Suite, took in some television – and some sherry – until it was time to head back to the hotel restaurant for dinner. We enjoyed another example of a fine culinary experience. When we returned to our room after dinner, we had discovered that the Portmeirion channel had finally been fixed, and we took in an episode and a half of the Prisoner (it appears that one DVD’s worth of episodes are run nightly, beginning at six.)

Tomorrow, we escape from the Village…