A Castle and an Italian Village with a Little Welsh Weather Thrown In

Today started out with another castle, Penrhyn Castle. Penrhyn is was rebuilt between 1822 and 1837 and has been updated through the years to a more modern home. This one was quite imposing from the outside but cold and sparse inside. They got a little carried away with all the plaster work and every wall is adorned with something. Lord Penrhyn was elevated to the peerage in 1783. The house is all about showing off the architect, Thomas Hopper and not the Penrhyn family who owned the slate mines and were part of the slave trade. The National trust now owns the house so at least our visiting did not enhance the family. I will say they didn’t try to hide the connection but I think they could have said more.

The rooms in the manor house were done probably in the 1920. I did love the Japanese wallpaper in the ladies bedroom.

There were some nice gardens.

We didn’t stay to long and we were off again to see another crazy more modern attraction, Portmeirion. It is an Italian style tourist village. It was built by Sir Clough Williams-Ellis in 1925 but took years to complete. It was kind of like Italian Disney land. They do make a type of pottery there and there was some good shopping but it was an odd stop. Didn’t hep that it rained like crazy.

We raced to to get to one of the restaurants but they were all full so we shopped a bit in the rain before the cafe cleared out and we got a table. It was a nice Italian spot so lunch was delicious but again just weird. Had it not been raining I am sure it would have been a lovely afternoon. The grounds were beautiful and there was a beach which would have been nice to walk on but the rain pretty much killed the vibe. I did find a cute small suitcase to help carry back all my new purchases so at least that was good.

Form here we headed back to the hotel to get ready for our gala dinner. It was out in the middle of nowhere and although nice not near is spectacular as some of the other places we have had for our dinners. It was at Palé Hall which was a manor house and is now a small boutique hotel. It was cute and the food was really good but again it was no Glamis or Howard Castle. However it had the most over the top bathroom I have ever been in.