Portmeirion Village, Wales

Portmeirion is a popular tourist village in North Wales, designed and built by Sir Clough Williams-Ellis between 1925 and 1975 in the style of an Italian village.

Williams-Ellis designed and constructed the village between 1925 and 1975, incorporating fragments of demolished buildings, including works by a number of other architects.

The main building of the hotel, and the cottages called "White Horses", "Mermaid" and "The Salutation" had been a private estate developed in the 1850s, itself on the site of a foundry and boatyard which was active in the late 18th century.

Williams-Ellis named the village Portmeirion - Port becuase of its location on the coast and Meirion from the county of Merioneth, in which it then lay.

In 1931 Williams-Ellis bought from his uncle the Victorian castellated mansion Castell Deudraeth with the intention of incorporating it into the Portmeirion hotel complex, but the intervention of the war and other problems prevented this. Eventually, with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the European Regional Development Fund as well as the Wales Tourist Board, his aims were achieved and Castell Deudraeth was opened as an 11 bedroom hotel and restaurant on August 20, 2001 by Welsh opera singer Bryn Terfel.

The grounds of the hotel contain an extensive collection of rhododendrons and other exotic plants in a wild-garden setting, which was begun before Williams-Ellis's time by the previous owner George Henry Caton Haigh and continues to be developed.

Portmeirion is now owned by a charitable trust, and has always been run as a hotel, which uses the majority of the buildings as hotel rooms or self-catering cottages, together with shops, a cafe, tea-room, and restaurant. Portmeirion is today a top tourist attraction in North Wales and day visits can be made on payment of an admission charge.

Opening Times

Portmeirion is open every day of the year from 9.30am to 7.30pm.

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Ticket Prices

Disabled Facilities

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More Information

Email: info@portmeirion-village.com

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