What did we stumble upon here?? This is INCREDIBLE! A Village in North Wales inspired by Italy and you must see it to believe it! Absolutely breathtaking village and so picturesque! We continue to fall in love with the United Kingdom! Debbie's Italian ancestry and Natasha's Welsh ancestry are screaming out in this episode! Whether you have seen Portmeirion or not, you gotta take a look at this video. YOU WILL LOVE IT! Let us know if you have been in the comments. Please go to the description of this video for the original video link and give them a LIKE and Tell them The Natasha & Debbie Show sent you. If you enjoy our content, please consider subscribing to our channel, it is the BEST way to support our channel and it's FREE! Also, please click the Like button. Thank you for your support!
If you do EVER visit the U.K. you will need to be here for at least 1 year to see just 1% of the wonderful places & attractions we have. History & Pageantry will blow your minds.
yes.. very touristy but we went at the height of the summer and stil managed to enjoy it. I would suggest checking the weather forecast. We went on a brilliatly sunny day with no clouds and the water and sky looked stunningly beautiful.
Portmeirion was the location for the cult tv series The Prisoner (1966/67). This series is widely considered to be one of the finest, ground-breaking series ever produced for commercial television. Some describe it as Twin Peaks on steroids and for the thinking viewer. I highly recommend it, despite it having been filmed almost 60 yrs ago. Btw, there is a small permanent population, chiefly employed by the charitable trust which runs the village as a tourist venue. The village is part of the local government community of Penrhyndaedraeth.
about 10-15 years ago channel 4 re run the prisoner and ended up i a media firestorm as they run the series not in the orignal order which made the show pretty much gibberish !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm telling you, no matter where you go in the UK, and I say the UK even though I live in Mid Wales you will not be disappointed because I think we live in a beautiful country.
Hi Natasha & Debbie, Thanks so much for this! The first hotel we showed is the Portmeirion Hotel - it would be an amazing place to stay for an anniversary (*hint hint*). It's absolutely incredible in summer and I'm sure you would really love it. Should you head over to the UK, please do let us know, we would love to hang out with you guys.xx
Thank YOU for such beautiful videos! This one was especially a treat for us! We really appreciate you both and finding many similarities between us! We definitely want to spend some time with you when we visit!! Much love to you both from America 🇺🇸 ❤️ ❤
@@TheNatashaDebbieShow , it's a great place to go and stay if you wish it also has funny bits , there is a boat always in the harbour and you can visit it most times because it's made of concrete so never moves , also some buildings that are a little distance away look stunning on the hill but when you get to them you'll find them half size , the original owner / architect had great vision and planning and did a magnificent job
My daughter and I have stayed there twice (we’re from Sydney}. The first time we stayed for 3 days and extended it to 5 because we loved it so much. We stay in winter, which is much cheaper, so we could afford the bed, breakfast & dinner special deal. We stayed in cottages - Upper Dolphin and The Priory. It was absolutely wonderful!
Only 2 miles down the coast from Portmerion is the large impressive Harlech Castle, one of the large ring of stone castles built by Edward the 1st(aka Longshanks) to control Wales. Longshanks was played in film Braveheart by Patick McGoohan who was also titular Prisoner in the well known TV series The Prisoner which was filmed in Portmerion(beware the giant rubber balls)
Ah Braveheart, one of the most fact less films in history. For example, the part where the Irish turned on the English when they charged the Scots. In reality it was the Welsh, but the Irish didn’t want to be seen helping the English because of the IRA so Mel Gibson straight up changed it.
I fell in love with Portmeirion as a child back in the '60s precisely because of the TV series "The Prisoner." I see that lots of other people in the comments have mentioned the series as well. It was a very head-trippy, semi-mystical spy-fi drama that viewers weren't supposed to feel that they fully understood; thus making them think quite a bit about what was real and what was illusion and just how The Village actually *worked* as a prison for retired spies who knew too much to safely be allowed to be allowed to actually retire. Very psychological, open-ended mystery prison, with hints of brain-washing, low-key psychological interrogation VIA technology, with cameras and microphones everywhere, and the eternal questions of "did the hero *really* escape in the end" and "who is Number One?" One of the twists to the series was that one episode was a Western, with cowboys, horses, saloons, barfights, and shootouts--right up until the last few scenes. There were only 13 episodes. I'm fairly sure that there may be clips, or even entire episodes on RUclips. In any case, I believe the whole series can be bought on DVD fairly inexpensively, if you shop around for it. That said, being filmed in 1960s Portmeirion, the village became as much a series character as the actors. Viewers got to see quite a lot of the place during the show. Fans still argue about what the last two episodes actually mean. --Dan
I first visited it in 1982 with my girlfriend when we made a decision to continue to see each other to see how things progressed. We are celebrating our 39th wedding anniversary this month. We have taken our children back there a number of times and they have always loved it.
Theres a sleepy little village near Liverpool with an interesting history called Port Sunlight. The whole village was built from nothing by the Lever family to be the place for their workers to live who would also work in their new soap factory in the village. Theres a 25 minute video here of a narrated walking tour of the village talking about its history and surroundings "PORT SUNLIGHT | 4K Narrated Walking Tour | Let's Walk 2022"
If you like Pre-Raphaelite art this is a place to go. There is a beautiful art gallery called the Lady Lever art gallery in Port Sunlight. My daughter's godfather found an old film from after the First World War of his grandfather being instrumental in he opening of the War memorial. He was one of 2 veteran soldiers who had been blinded in the war. He worked for the Lever family and was granted accommodation in Port Sunlight free for the rest of his life. Look up the history of Port Sunlight and another place to look up is Saltaire, another town built by the philanthropist Sir Titus Salt
Our company has a construction maintenance contract with Unilever (formerly Lever Brothers), so have to visit frequently. Can concur, Port Sunlight is beautiful.
Welcome back to Wales, girls. Yes, it's a tourist attraction. There is an entrance fee but you can stay. My sister, 2nd nephew and family stayed a weekend and I visited years ago. Great place to explore and lots more in the area. Do check out the steam trains you can take from Porthmadog. The Harbourmaster is a return trip from Porthmadog to Caernarvon and back through the greatest scenery in Wales. The gold ticket gets you seats in a first class observation car. (Addendum) Just did some research as we're staying in Harlech this year (Amazing castle) the entry to Portmeirion is free if you pre-book a three course meal at either of the hotel. restaurants. Bon apetite.
Also girls nearby is porthmadog where you can get a narrow gauge railway to blenau ffestiniog int the mountains where nearly all the slate roofs of houses in britain came from, amazing train ride❤
Ffestiniog railway starts at Porthmadog. It is the best narrow gauge railway in the UK. It starts on the coast and goes up the mountain. Built and run by enthusiasts. Sadly this is also amongst the wettest places.
Portmeirion is a beautiful place, it is the 2nd most popular tourist destination in Wales, and it is estimated that around 50% of that is because of The Prisoner. The village has it's own microclimate, when we filmed for a Susan Calman show, Portmeirion/Porthmadog was the hottest part of Europe on that day. We have a convention every year in April, next year will be the 40th.
Ah cool. I went there for a school art trip to draw the lovely pastel coloured buildings. Spent most the day going back and forth to the ice cream parlour getting ice cream 😋
So glad you saw this. We stayed there a couple of nights before Covid landed. It was a surprise birthday visit for my husband who is a huge fan of the 1960s TV series The Prisoner. I warned him we were travelling out of the country to a secret location, and to bring his passport. Portmeirion's shop offers a 'Permanent Resident Identity Card' for 'The Village' as Portmeirion is known in the series. I handed it to him just as we left home, he was over the top excited. Anyway: Portmeirion is primarily a holiday village, and I think doesn't have permanent residents. Most of those little cottages and follies and houses have rooms you can stay in. Yes it is touristy and quite busy during the day during the summer season. The village opens to day visitors at 9.30am and it closes at 5pm, excepting overnight guests. There are no cars allowed in the village apart from holiday guests staying overnight, which adds to its charm. Day visitors park outside the village, pay an entrance fee, and walk in. The magic REALLY happens after the day visitors leave, and the overnight guests get the place to themselves. Strolling around the village in the evening, all lit up by the sunset and by little lights later on, was truly, magically beautiful. The Hotel Portmeirion right down on the waterfront is lovely and has an excellent restaurant, we noticed many people staying there were celebrating special things like anniversaries and in our case, a birthday. The whole village overall is small, but there is a lot to do. Last thing: all that lush green is green because it rains. Wales is very, very green, very beautiful, and you could get rain in any season. We had warm sunny weather for our stay, with a soft gentle rain early one morning. Please Google for Portmeirion night, you'll love it even more.
Portmeirion is lovely. I've not stayed there but have visited and it's gorgeous. Most people know it from the 1960s seres "The Prisoner" which is very good (in parts) but I know it more from a "Doctor Who" story "The Masque of Mandragora". I think Portmeirion is basically the go to if you want something that looks vaguely like Italy, but you have a UK production budget... Definitely worth a visit.
I’ve only been once, thirty years ago when I was at Uni in North Wales. My parents came to visit and we went to PortMeirion for the day. It was summer and the weather was just as gorgeous, but I don’t remember huge crowds of people. It seemed as peaceful as in Kirsten and Joerg’s (pronounced Yuerg) video. The only loud noise was the sound of the peacocks - there was a beautiful white one. We had a picnic on the beach and my mum collects porcelain so she bought some beautiful portmeirion tableware. This brought it all back. Happy days.
Hi girls! It isn't a village in the conventional sense in that nobody lives there permanently. The whole thing is a hotel complex with some of the buildings around the village being self catering apartments. Day visitors are allowed though for which you pay an entrance fee and you can walk around the village, visit the shops and do the woodland walk (highly recommended). The first hotel shown by the estuary has a VERY high end restaurant but as shown in the vid you can get chips and the like too at other eateries in the village. We've stayed there for a week self catering in the Dolphin apartment and to be honest you don't need to leave the site you can chill doing the coastal/woodland walk, look out at the amazing views, walking round the village never gets boring. I took my sketch book and spent some time on that. We visited the featured ice-cream parlour every day a must place for Debbie. For some reason Wales seems to love its ice-cream, we've been to several places in Wales and they just love it!
This place is a hour up the road from me and it’s gorgeous on a nice day, typically the weather here in Wales is wet as we’re surrounded by so many mountains, however that makes every lush and green for days like this
I've stayed there a couple of times in one of the self-catering cottages. It gets pretty busy during the day, but after the tourists have left the evenings are absolutely magical. There is no other place like it.
I've been waiting for you to do this video :-) It is a stunning little village with a different view around every corner. The buildings are all special, reclaimed from other villages or made from local scrap. Some of the cottages are on a smaller scale so that they are really only single bedrooms on the inside but from the outside, up the hill, they look like huge mansions. When the fans of The Prisoner TV show have their conventions it gets very surreal :-)
I've been to portmeirion! It's a beautiful little corner, tucked in behind Snowdonia national park, a mountainous region packed with tourist delights, like castles and narrow gauge steam railways. The village was built rather quickly as Clough-Ellis felt he was in a race to build it while he could. He brought in some buildings and useful features such as columns and statues. Other buildings he built from scratch. Some of them are a bit like a movie set, little more than a facade, others are fully usable. There is quite a heavy maintenance program, because it was thrown up relatively speedily, and these people live in or near the village. Did you notice the schooner by the harbour? It looks good, but is actually built of stone and is connected to the harbour wall. Things are not always as they appear in Portmeirion. There are a host of beautiful locations around Britain, but the best for me are the Isles of Scilly, just off the south west corner. They are worth checking out. They include Tresco abbey gardens, and St Mary''s with its tiny capital, Hugh Town. A semi tropical delight.
I went to Portmeirion many years ago. It does feel special. That area of Wales is full of great places to visit. One day I may even get to the top of Snowdon when it's not cloudy. X
I'm very proud to be Welsh, born and bred in North Wales. Portmeirion village is a tourist location only. As far as I'm aware nobody lives there. We've visited Portmeirion several times and it is very beautiful 😊. My nephew and his wife got married there back in December 2007. Although it rained constantly that day, it was still an amazing place for a wedding. I watch Kirsten and Joerg's vlogs. Like you two, they are such a lovely couple. If you do come over to the UK you won't be disappointed with Wales xxx
It's at the southern edge of the Snowdonia mountain range and I live at the northern tip about 35 miles away, as the prevailing wind is SW that means where I live has slightly less rain than average for the UK (as we're in the rain shadow of Snowdonia) , but Portmeirion has slightly higher rainfall than average, making it so lush! One cool fact is the plates they were served their chips on and were in the shop, were from the Portmeirion pottery which is in The Potteries (Stoke-on-Trent) but was founded by the Susan Williams‐Ellis, the daughter of the architect who designed the village Sir Clough Williams‐Ellis, I used to work as an artist in the Potteries and my brother-in-law worked at Portmeirion pottery so I have quite a lot of it, their Botanic Garden collection is a beautiful timeless design and was directly influenced by Portmeirion village.
My mother bought a complete dining set of Portmeirion Botanic Garden in 1976 - there was a special offer in Farmers Weekly magazine- so I am very familiar with it as it was our chinaware in daily use for many many years. Some of the plates had insect drawings amongst the flowers , which you would sometimes uncover as you ate !
I also know of Portmerion from The Prisoner. I've seen other videos this couple have done. They do it in a way that's gentle and not ''touristy'' by focussing on the place rather than themselves. They are so cute you just want to protect them and give them a cuddle.
I've forgotten how many times we've been there, at least 6. Every time we've gone the sun has come out, even if it was a little wet earlier in the day. It's absolutely stunning but also quite rustic as a lot of the elements were handmade or repurposed. The big white building with the dome on the hill - I think the facade was in fact originally a fireplace [an absolutely massive fireplace]. The turquoise that is throughout is a special colour they use to tie everything together. There was a documentary series called the Village, which was a year behind the scenes with those that work there and features the annual Prisoner celebration. They also have a music festival called Festival No.6 which is really good. I believe there are a few privately owned cottages, because there is a pet cemetery in the woods. Only residents pets are there and some houses have private signs on. There's a Welsh ice cream company that supplies their ice cream that includes a chilli-chocolate ice cream that is amazing. There are small bits of chilli in the chocolate ice cream that are on fire next to the ice cold chocolate. I love this place so much, I've hundreds of photos of the buildings, flowers and my kids in specific places showing how they've grown over the years or paddling in that pool in the centre of the village.
Hah! The Prisoner's 'Village'.. I spent a great day wandering around there, remembering all the old TV episodes. 😀 The Prisoner fan club 'Six of One' used to operate out of Number Six's house.. tiny in RL compared to the TV filmed set.
My brother took me here on my 50th birthday. It is absolutely beautiful here, it is a tourist trap but that doesn't detract from it at all. If you're anything like me you will appeciate it a lot more if you watch the series that was filmed there, "The Prisoner", as it shows the place at it's absolute best (it's quite a good [very good] spy drama too).
Architecture wise it's really interesting, a lot of the buildings are built to an odd scale - you think it's a large window, arch or balcony but as you get closer it's actually quite small. Part of what makes it magical I think. I've got a friend who stays there at least twice a year.
I’ve been there several times with my late husband, it’s a gorgeous and magical place and I have some wonderful memories of being there. I recommend to anyone who can, go, you won’t regret it.
Ive been there, its fantastic, i stayed in Porthmadog not far from there. Its a photographers dream. I sat outside the hotel there, drinking my cider with a lovely view of the estuary where you can watch the osprey catching fish. BTW nice couple in the video. The pottery was created by the daughter of the architect who built the village
Loved this! Been to Portmeirion. Yes you can stay there and there is even a pet cemetery. Keep up the great work girls! Everyone needs a Natasha & Debbie in their lives 👍
The beautiful Portmeirion Village was built by Welsh architect Clough Williams-Ellis from 1925 to 1973. "Clough hoped that his work at Portmeirion would inspire others." In 1925, Welsh architect Clough Williams-Ellis acquired the site which was to become Portmeirion.
The thing you need to understand is that it is an art installation on a huge scale. The houses are teeny and mostly not lived in (there are a few holiday apartments I believe) The TV series treated it as a real village by combining shots of different buildings to make it look like one and so on. But it is all basically a tourist destination designed to demonstrate architectural concepts. Viewed in that light it is a triumph and every corner offers an amazing vista. The chessboard wasn't originally intended to be there but featured in the TV show and subsequent visitors expected to see it, so it stayed!
I went here for the first time, just a couple of weeks ago. Stayed in the north of Wales (Snowdonia area) and we just had to visit this place. I’m glad we did, it’s absolutely stunning.
What an absolutely stunning video. I had never heard of this village, what a beautiful gem you have treated us to 😍 Your videos make me realise I need to be exploring home turf more. Thank you! :)
Portmeirion is a lovely place. Osborne House on the Isle of Wight is beautiful as is Fountains Abbey in Yorkshire. Isles of Scilly is a magical set of small islands 15 minutes helicopter flight from the coast of Cornwall. The Lake District is stunning. Lots of beautiful places in 🇬🇧. I’ve just found your channel on RUclips and thoroughly enjoying it ❤
Wow!!!! The best of 2 worlds! I loved this! My sister & I used to watch an English show, "Rosemary & Thyme." It reminded me of where they would go plant flowers etc.!! LOVED it!
Love you guys so much, your love for learning is so infectious(in a good way). Have a look at Much Wenlock in Shropshire, just a few miles from Wales. It's the home of the modern Olympics, run by a French Baron.
A beautiful fairytale village. A long time since we last visited and you have inspired us to return there. The Prisoner was black and white TV and as a kid, I was completely enthralled by it. Way ahead of its time. My sister-in-law was a hand painter at Portmeirion many years ago and created some beautiful pieces for them. The factory is in Stoke on Trent.
@@allanmanaged5285 all uk tv was black and white when The Prisoner was first broadcast, but it was filmed in colour. The hotel has a tv channel with the whole series playing on a loop
The Prisoner was shot in colour. It was made by Lew Grade's ITC company who made a lot of well known ITV shows from that era (The Saint, Dangerman, Man in a Suitcase, The Baron etc - plus all the Gerry Anderson series - Stingray, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet etc). Grade was always trying to sell his series to the US market so, from around 1963, he shot them in colour as American TV began to broadcast in colour around that time. UK colour TV started in 1967 so, if you were one of the lucky few who owned a colour TV in the UK in 1967, you would have seen The Prisoner in colour on its first showing. It got a mixed reception at the time but it was repeated on ITV on and off all through the 70s. Channel 4 showed it again in the 80s.
I'm related to the guy who built it, Clough Williams-Ellis, I've been many times as I go to North Wales often. On a summer's day it is really exceptional and worth a visit if you're in the area!
I have stayed there a couple of times when my eldest kid was little. We have photos of us on the private beach that most visitors don't find. White sand, we didn't go in the sea though, it was December, unseasonably warm but still...😂
I`ve been practically everywhere there is to go in Wales, a dozen times over. It`s a beautiful country nomatter the time of year, but late Spring / early Summer is spectacular. They won`t thank me - on the grounds that I`m English. But you chaps should be fine. Seriously - all the Welsh people I`ve ever known or met have been fine and courteous toward me.
I remember watching "the Prisoner" as a boy. I assume it was a continuation of "Danger man" but with a much more oblique context. The big white ball was particularly scary. When it attacked it just seemed relentless. Patrick McGoohan was apparently quite a weird bloke. I suppose He chose Portmeirion because of it's slightly unreal appearance which, in the series gave it an almost sinister quality. I dont remember whether He ever actually escaped.
@@deanmaynard8256 ..or properly booted it in a mini-moke.. a company hires mini-mokes on Jersey.. I couldn't help thinking of the Prisoner every time one whizzed by. 😃
I visited Portmeirion back in 2010 when convalescing from pneumonia. It is beautiful and a surprise around every corner. The Prisoner: lead character, 'I am not a number', a voice answers, 'Yes, number 6'. Sorry I had to. 🤣
We used to tour Wales in our caravan and visited Portmeirion twice. It really is so tranquil and magical. I am also old enough to have seen the tv show The Prisoner filmed there. Thanks for bringing back those lovely memories.
We visited Portmerion about 25 years ago, a few months before our youngest was born and when our older two were 8 and 5. We stayed across the bay near Ynys and Talsarnau. This is also near Harlech which is well worth visiting for the castle; my Welsh father-in-law's car almost gave up while driving up the very steep hill to the castle. It looks just as beautiful now, from the video, as it did then. Looking back this was one of the best holidays I remember having with my family, but thinking about it now probably wasn't that great for my pregnant wife plus with two young kids. We're visiting Wales with family this July, staying in Pwllheli, and after being reminded by this video I wonder if we should try to fit in a day at Portmerion too.
I've been there, many years ago. One of the reasons I wanted to go (not because I'm Italian) was because of 'The Prisoner. It was one of my favourite TV series in the 70s ( Igrew up in Canada BTW). So much to learn about this place. There's Portmeirion Pottery which is famous worldwide.
I've stayed at Portmeirion many times, usually in the autumn (fall) or winter. I live in the very centre of England, north of Birmingham and it's only 110 miles away. The whole place is a hotel - with two actual hotels and self-catering cottages, some of which are run as serviced hotel rooms. The old hotel by the estuary is the original victorian house. The village is built into what were the gardens on the house, called Aber Ia, and the second hotel is the victorian castle on the drive. It's fascinating to discover that some parts of the village are actually 19th century. The woods are wonderful. I was last there on a sunny day in 2021 and by the time I got to the beach I was on my own. It was absolutely silent. Oh, and autumn can be warm. I had one holiday there in late October when it was as colourful as New England and warm enough to sit outside eating. But it's romantic in the rain. It's very near the highest mountains, close to the town of Porthmadog and you can get there by train to Minfordd - which is also a station on the narrow gauge Ffestinion Railway. You must explore Welsh narrow gauge railways!
Hello Natasha and Debbie, I recommend a reaction to Galicia, a region of Spain where I live and which is one of the Celtic nations and is twinned with Scotland, our instrument is the bagpipe and our land is green and the climate is rainy in winter and warm In summer, wonderful beaches and islands with paradisiacal beaches. Galicia is very similar to the United Kingdom because we are very close. The coast of Galicia is the Atlantic Ocean, just like the United Kingdom. Greetings from the city of Vigo, Galicia. Thank you .
Hi avdastamarina. Back in 1978, I spent 4 weeks at a summer school at Salamanca University. Afterwards I, and an American friend, took the train to Vigo, arriving late in the day. Everywhere was booked up, but while in a hotel bar, we met the driver of the train we’d come on. He took us back to the train and put us up in a carriage. We’d just settled down when a policeman arrived, pointed to the station platform and said, ‘El banco’, so that’s where we spent the night. The next morning, we took the train to Santiago de Compostela, spent a few wonderful days there and then on to La Coruna. As you say, Galicia is part of Europe’s Celtic Fringe and has a lot in common with Britain, especially Scotland, where I live. I will always remember how beautiful It was and my short, but memorable, stay in Vigo. Regards, Martin.
Hello avdastamarina, I spent a couple of weeks driving and camping in Galicia many years ago, we visited Santander, Vigo, Lugo, La Corina and Santiago, so beautiful and reminded me of Ireland.
My wife and I spent our honeymoon there in February 1973. The weather was surprisingly mild. We stayed in a cottage at the top of the village called Chantry Row 2. It was so beautifully decorated and furnished with antiques. The main hotel suffered a fire a couple of years later which destroyed the beautiful restaurant and other parts. (Since rebuilt) Well worth a visit.
I find the joy of Portmerion is the clever use of different perspectives. Walk along a path, admiring the view. Stop, turn around and the different view will blow your mind.
Portmeirion is a fantastic location. I was in a touring production of Don Quixote in 2007. I played Sancho Panza. We did a couple of shows there. A fabulous experience.
Portmeirion is even more lovely in real life. It is so clean and fresh as it is repainted so often. I've been a few times. I love North Wales as a whole. The hotel is the 4 star Hotel Portmeirion.
Portmeirion is primarily a residential development. The architect behind it wanted to show that high density housing could be built without the bleak housing estates he hated. Unfortunately he lost that battle.
What a wonderful place and to think I only lived about 50 miles and never knew of its existence. Thanks for the vid and your usual lovely enthusiasm for wonderful places . I must admit initially it reminded me of Croatia
I went with my mum and dad a few years ago. It's one of the last places we visited together before mum died. As an ignorant youngster I was truly blown away by this place, and walking around it I got the sense that it had largely been forgotten by the British public.
They used to turn the whole village into a music/art festival called festival number 6 for 1 weekend each September. Had some great artists come to perform there. Sad it no longer happens
We visited Portmeirion for the first time this week. Mid week and not the school holidays so it wasn't overly busy. A surprise around every corner, a magical woodland walk and down to the beach with its fabulous views on a lovely sunny day. It was a unique and fascinating experience, set on the western edge of the Snowdonia National Park which is beautiful itself and well worth exploring.
I haven't commented on your videos before , watching your videos really brighten my day, I've just watched the port mererion and ten by ones both places are brilliant, port mererion is very busy in the summer but still pleasant the is an Italian restaurant in the center of the village that serves great food, hope you do visit great Britain, and have you ever seen any of the Isle of wight videos, that is another great place to visit, love you both , thanks Chris
The sixties TV Show"the Prisoner" was filmed here.Patrick McGoohan played Number six, constantly trying to escape as he was imprisoned there.Still a cult classic.We visited in the late eighties doesn't seemed to have changed much.
My family comes from the village next door to Portmeirion, I spent many happy hours playing there as a little boy. In the 70's and 80's every Friday they would have a fireworks display, which was awesome, the village does have a creepy feel to it at night! Various members of my family have worked here over the years! The Ffestiniog Railway in Porthmadog is also amazing with some fabulous views only a 10-minute drive from Portmeirion.
The whole coastline from Harlech around to Criccieth is absolutely stunning. You have 2 castles, Portmeirion, Potmadoc and the light railways. Also the north Wales coast ha Caernarfon and Conway Castles. Anglesey is beautiful with a dark past linked with the Druids. Just beautiful. I holidayed in that whole region with mum and dad for 10 years and sadly my dad passed away there but couldn’t have gone in a more glorious region.
I have been many years ago and remembered it being lovely but revisiting with you this morning has helped me realise just how stunning a place it really is . I must go back again someday. Thanks for sharing this cute couples video with us , really enjoyed watching this as l do ALL YOUR SHOWS🇬🇧🇺🇸🦚🍦
Been there a few years ago when my parents were alive , stunning place ,there's a little woodland walk in the grounds but never found the pet cemetery. Been meaning to go back.
A welshie born and bred here (southern welsh admittedly) but id pronounce the villiage port-may-rion, welsh is a beautiful language and i'd encourage more folk (welsh or not) to learn it !🏴 (Edit: to my knowledge, no-one lives in portmeirion, its purely a tourist town :) )
The lady in the video mentioned a t.v. series "The prisoner", which was made there some years ago. It's a very quirky tale about a secret agent who quits his job and then is kidnapped by his enemies [the other side] and finds himself a prisoner in the village. The rest of the series is about his failed attempts to escape the village. It caused quite astir in the U.K. and some people actually still wear the emblems representing the series from the 1960s, a small pinbadge with a penny farthing bicycle on it.
Yay. You went there! Well done. It’s such an oddity, but a very beautiful spot. There are many in the UK but that’s an unusual one. I’m going to push my luck. Try the Isles of Scilly and the sub-tropical gardens at Tresco. So hard to get to but some of the best beaches on the planet in my view.
1960s TV series made in Britain would use Portmeirion and other locations in Wales to represent other places in the world. Patrick McGoohan was an actor who saw the place when filming episodes of 'Danger Man' ('Secret Agent' in the USA), and on hearing stories from some of the TV series writers about such places rumoured to exist in Britain during WWII. They existed to imprison enemy spies captured, our own agents who were under suspicion, or agents hospitalised, or people who 'knew too much' but were still useful (some of such places were real and information on them has been declassified). So he and others suggested a TV series about the craziness of espionage stories and the techniques of brainwashing, enhanced interrogation, etc. that were going around as rumours in the 1960s. It became a sort of sequel to Danger Man, being (probably) the same man, but after he tried to resign from intelligence work. It's a wonderful bit of 1960s weirdness and fed into the paranoia about 'enemy agents under every bed' popular at the time. The 1960s 'The Prisoner' is well worth finding, the remake many years later, less so. Fans and a fanclub of the series still exist, known as 'Six of One', and once a year, Portmeirion turns back the clock to when the TV series was made there.
My mother bought a set of Portmeirion 'Botanica' dinner plates in the 1960s. After she passed I inherited them, and I just had sausage, eggs and chips off 'diaonaea muscipula'. Happy days.
Shropshire(England) and all the Welsh marches are stunning to see, and represent the remains of ancient Britain how all of it used to be! Stay in Port merrion and also stay in Shrewsbury, you will never want to leave.
Portmeirion is a truly magical place, I've been a few times and was not that busy on both occasions. As people have mentioned the tv show the prisoner was filmed there, starring and created by the late Patrick McGoohan. It is a prison in the show for the James Bond type, MI6, etc. It is called the village, a must-watch if you can find it. Nice one girls, you've kick-started old memories. ❤
What did we stumble upon here?? This is INCREDIBLE! A Village in North Wales inspired by Italy and you must see it to believe it! Absolutely breathtaking village and so picturesque! We continue to fall in love with the United Kingdom! Debbie's Italian ancestry and Natasha's Welsh ancestry are screaming out in this episode! Whether you have seen Portmeirion or not, you gotta take a look at this video. YOU WILL LOVE IT! Let us know if you have been in the comments. Please go to the description of this video for the original video link and give them a LIKE and Tell them The Natasha & Debbie Show sent you. If you enjoy our content, please consider subscribing to our channel, it is the BEST way to support our channel and it's FREE! Also, please click the Like button. Thank you for your support!
Portmeirion as seen on the simpsons, Dr who and the cult 60s show the prisoner, to name but a few...
Been loads of times because i was obsessed with the PRISONER, patrick mcgoohan❤
If you do EVER visit the U.K. you will need to be here for at least 1 year to see just 1% of the wonderful places & attractions we have. History & Pageantry will blow your minds.
You should watch The Prisoner. It is a advanced for it's time with the Technology they use in the Show.
yes.. very touristy but we went at the height of the summer and stil managed to enjoy it. I would suggest checking the weather forecast. We went on a brilliatly sunny day with no clouds and the water and sky looked stunningly beautiful.
Portmeirion was the location for the cult tv series The Prisoner (1966/67). This series is widely considered to be one of the finest, ground-breaking series ever produced for commercial television. Some describe it as Twin Peaks on steroids and for the thinking viewer. I highly recommend it, despite it having been filmed almost 60 yrs ago. Btw, there is a small permanent population, chiefly employed by the charitable trust which runs the village as a tourist venue. The village is part of the local government community of Penrhyndaedraeth.
Yep and I'm still startled by beach balls.
about 10-15 years ago channel 4 re run the prisoner and ended up i a media firestorm as they run the series not in the orignal order
which made the show pretty much gibberish !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
No. 6: "I am not a number. I am a free man!"
@@TheHaplorhine "Be Seeing You"
Loved the Prisoner when it first was on TV in my teens and still love it. If you like weird watch it
I'm telling you, no matter where you go in the UK, and I say the UK even though I live in Mid Wales you will not be disappointed because I think we live in a beautiful country.
I mean.... maybe a few places are not so great. Slough? Luton? Cwmbran?
@@sacredgeometry since when luton and slough in wales?
Hi Natasha & Debbie, Thanks so much for this! The first hotel we showed is the Portmeirion Hotel - it would be an amazing place to stay for an anniversary (*hint hint*). It's absolutely incredible in summer and I'm sure you would really love it. Should you head over to the UK, please do let us know, we would love to hang out with you guys.xx
Thank YOU for such beautiful videos! This one was especially a treat for us! We really appreciate you both and finding many similarities between us! We definitely want to spend some time with you when we visit!! Much love to you both from America 🇺🇸 ❤️ ❤
@@TheNatashaDebbieShow So so happy you liked it, we can't thank you enough. I agree, we have lots of similarities and I love it.xxo
You speak better English than most English people!
@@TheNatashaDebbieShow , it's a great place to go and stay if you wish it also has funny bits , there is a boat always in the harbour and you can visit it most times because it's made of concrete so never moves , also some buildings that are a little distance away look stunning on the hill but when you get to them you'll find them half size , the original owner / architect had great vision and planning and did a magnificent job
My daughter and I have stayed there twice (we’re from Sydney}. The first time we stayed for 3 days and extended it to 5 because we loved it so much. We stay in winter, which is much cheaper, so we could afford the bed, breakfast & dinner special deal. We stayed in cottages - Upper Dolphin and The Priory. It was absolutely wonderful!
Beautiful part of Wales
We have MANY little secrets like these places, you could live here for hundreds of years and still find new things
Only 2 miles down the coast from Portmerion is the large impressive Harlech Castle, one of the large ring of stone castles built by Edward the 1st(aka Longshanks) to control Wales.
Longshanks was played in film Braveheart by Patick McGoohan who was also titular Prisoner in the well known TV series The Prisoner which was filmed in Portmerion(beware the giant rubber balls)
Ah Braveheart, one of the most fact less films in history. For example, the part where the Irish turned on the English when they charged the Scots. In reality it was the Welsh, but the Irish didn’t want to be seen helping the English because of the IRA so Mel Gibson straight up changed it.
Harlech castle is a little further than 2 miles from Portmeirion. It's approximately 7.5 to 8 miles.
@@WalesTheTrueBritons Wow!
I fell in love with Portmeirion as a child back in the '60s precisely because of the TV series "The Prisoner." I see that lots of other people in the comments have mentioned the series as well. It was a very head-trippy, semi-mystical spy-fi drama that viewers weren't supposed to feel that they fully understood; thus making them think quite a bit about what was real and what was illusion and just how The Village actually *worked* as a prison for retired spies who knew too much to safely be allowed to be allowed to actually retire. Very psychological, open-ended mystery prison, with hints of brain-washing, low-key psychological interrogation VIA technology, with cameras and microphones everywhere, and the eternal questions of "did the hero *really* escape in the end" and "who is Number One?" One of the twists to the series was that one episode was a Western, with cowboys, horses, saloons, barfights, and shootouts--right up until the last few scenes. There were only 13 episodes. I'm fairly sure that there may be clips, or even entire episodes on RUclips. In any case, I believe the whole series can be bought on DVD fairly inexpensively, if you shop around for it.
That said, being filmed in 1960s Portmeirion, the village became as much a series character as the actors. Viewers got to see quite a lot of the place during the show. Fans still argue about what the last two episodes actually mean. --Dan
I first visited it in 1982 with my girlfriend when we made a decision to continue to see each other to see how things progressed. We are celebrating our 39th wedding anniversary this month. We have taken our children back there a number of times and they have always loved it.
Love it!!! ❤️
Theres a sleepy little village near Liverpool with an interesting history called Port Sunlight. The whole village was built from nothing by the Lever family to be the place for their workers to live who would also work in their new soap factory in the village.
Theres a 25 minute video here of a narrated walking tour of the village talking about its history and surroundings
"PORT SUNLIGHT | 4K Narrated Walking Tour | Let's Walk 2022"
If you like Pre-Raphaelite art this is a place to go. There is a beautiful art gallery called the Lady Lever art gallery in Port Sunlight.
My daughter's godfather found an old film from after the First World War of his grandfather being instrumental in he opening of the War memorial. He was one of 2 veteran soldiers who had been blinded in the war. He worked for the Lever family and was granted accommodation in Port Sunlight free for the rest of his life.
Look up the history of Port Sunlight and another place to look up is Saltaire, another town built by the philanthropist Sir Titus Salt
Our company has a construction maintenance contract with Unilever (formerly Lever Brothers), so have to visit frequently. Can concur, Port Sunlight is beautiful.
Thank you for reminding us about Port Sunlight, we must go, especially since I also enjoy Pre Raphaelite art.
Wonderful place well worth a visit, so much history 🇬🇧
@wildwine6400 I wasn't aware of Port Sunlight - it sounds like Saltaire in West Yorkshire which was also built for the employees at Titus Salt's mill.
I am not a number Ì am a FREE MAN !!! (followed by maniacal laughter)
But why did you resign?!!
I am Number 2. You are Number 6.
@@davidhyams2769 WHO is no 1 ?
Welcome back to Wales, girls.
Yes, it's a tourist attraction.
There is an entrance fee but you can stay. My sister, 2nd nephew and family stayed a weekend and I visited years ago.
Great place to explore and lots more in the area.
Do check out the steam trains you can take from Porthmadog.
The Harbourmaster is a return trip from Porthmadog to Caernarvon and back through the greatest scenery in Wales.
The gold ticket gets you seats in a first class observation car.
(Addendum) Just did some research as we're staying in Harlech this year (Amazing castle) the entry to Portmeirion is free if you pre-book a three course meal at either of the hotel.
restaurants.
Bon apetite.
Great information about steam train trip from Porthmadog, I'd love to do that.
@@mehitabel6564 👍
Other options available.
But the trains are beauties.
You have to visit to fully appreciate just how beautiful it is
We have every intention to!!
Also girls nearby is porthmadog where you can get a narrow gauge railway to blenau ffestiniog int the mountains where nearly all the slate roofs of houses in britain came from, amazing train ride❤
Ffestiniog railway starts at Porthmadog. It is the best narrow gauge railway in the UK. It starts on the coast and goes up the mountain. Built and run by enthusiasts. Sadly this is also amongst the wettest places.
Portmeirion is a beautiful place, it is the 2nd most popular tourist destination in Wales, and it is estimated that around 50% of that is because of The Prisoner. The village has it's own microclimate, when we filmed for a Susan Calman show, Portmeirion/Porthmadog was the hottest part of Europe on that day. We have a convention every year in April, next year will be the 40th.
I’m here in North Wales. 2024. I’ve been coming to Abersoch for 53 yrs. I’m 5 8 , I’ve been coming here since I was 4. 💕❤️
Ah cool. I went there for a school art trip to draw the lovely pastel coloured buildings. Spent most the day going back and forth to the ice cream parlour getting ice cream 😋
So glad you saw this. We stayed there a couple of nights before Covid landed. It was a surprise birthday visit for my husband who is a huge fan of the 1960s TV series The Prisoner. I warned him we were travelling out of the country to a secret location, and to bring his passport. Portmeirion's shop offers a 'Permanent Resident Identity Card' for 'The Village' as Portmeirion is known in the series. I handed it to him just as we left home, he was over the top excited. Anyway: Portmeirion is primarily a holiday village, and I think doesn't have permanent residents. Most of those little cottages and follies and houses have rooms you can stay in. Yes it is touristy and quite busy during the day during the summer season. The village opens to day visitors at 9.30am and it closes at 5pm, excepting overnight guests. There are no cars allowed in the village apart from holiday guests staying overnight, which adds to its charm. Day visitors park outside the village, pay an entrance fee, and walk in. The magic REALLY happens after the day visitors leave, and the overnight guests get the place to themselves. Strolling around the village in the evening, all lit up by the sunset and by little lights later on, was truly, magically beautiful. The Hotel Portmeirion right down on the waterfront is lovely and has an excellent restaurant, we noticed many people staying there were celebrating special things like anniversaries and in our case, a birthday. The whole village overall is small, but there is a lot to do. Last thing: all that lush green is green because it rains. Wales is very, very green, very beautiful, and you could get rain in any season. We had warm sunny weather for our stay, with a soft gentle rain early one morning. Please Google for Portmeirion night, you'll love it even more.
Portmeirion is lovely. I've not stayed there but have visited and it's gorgeous. Most people know it from the 1960s seres "The Prisoner" which is very good (in parts) but I know it more from a "Doctor Who" story "The Masque of Mandragora". I think Portmeirion is basically the go to if you want something that looks vaguely like Italy, but you have a UK production budget... Definitely worth a visit.
I’ve only been once, thirty years ago when I was at Uni in North Wales. My parents came to visit and we went to PortMeirion for the day. It was summer and the weather was just as gorgeous, but I don’t remember huge crowds of people. It seemed as peaceful as in Kirsten and Joerg’s (pronounced Yuerg) video. The only loud noise was the sound of the peacocks - there was a beautiful white one. We had a picnic on the beach and my mum collects porcelain so she bought some beautiful portmeirion tableware. This brought it all back. Happy days.
Hi girls! It isn't a village in the conventional sense in that nobody lives there permanently. The whole thing is a hotel complex with some of the buildings around the village being self catering apartments. Day visitors are allowed though for which you pay an entrance fee and you can walk around the village, visit the shops and do the woodland walk (highly recommended). The first hotel shown by the estuary has a VERY high end restaurant but as shown in the vid you can get chips and the like too at other eateries in the village. We've stayed there for a week self catering in the Dolphin apartment and to be honest you don't need to leave the site you can chill doing the coastal/woodland walk, look out at the amazing views, walking round the village never gets boring. I took my sketch book and spent some time on that. We visited the featured ice-cream parlour every day a must place for Debbie. For some reason Wales seems to love its ice-cream, we've been to several places in Wales and they just love it!
This place is a hour up the road from me and it’s gorgeous on a nice day, typically the weather here in Wales is wet as we’re surrounded by so many mountains, however that makes every lush and green for days like this
I've stayed there a couple of times in one of the self-catering cottages. It gets pretty busy during the day, but after the tourists have left the evenings are absolutely magical. There is no other place like it.
I've been waiting for you to do this video :-) It is a stunning little village with a different view around every corner. The buildings are all special, reclaimed from other villages or made from local scrap. Some of the cottages are on a smaller scale so that they are really only single bedrooms on the inside but from the outside, up the hill, they look like huge mansions. When the fans of The Prisoner TV show have their conventions it gets very surreal :-)
I've been to portmeirion! It's a beautiful little corner, tucked in behind Snowdonia national park, a mountainous region packed with tourist delights, like castles and narrow gauge steam railways.
The village was built rather quickly as Clough-Ellis felt he was in a race to build it while he could. He brought in some buildings and useful features such as columns and statues. Other buildings he built from scratch. Some of them are a bit like a movie set, little more than a facade, others are fully usable. There is quite a heavy maintenance program, because it was thrown up relatively speedily, and these people live in or near the village.
Did you notice the schooner by the harbour? It looks good, but is actually built of stone and is connected to the harbour wall. Things are not always as they appear in Portmeirion.
There are a host of beautiful locations around Britain, but the best for me are the Isles of Scilly, just off the south west corner. They are worth checking out. They include Tresco abbey gardens, and St Mary''s with its tiny capital, Hugh Town. A semi tropical delight.
I went to Portmeirion many years ago. It does feel special. That area of Wales is full of great places to visit. One day I may even get to the top of Snowdon when it's not cloudy. X
I'm very proud to be Welsh, born and bred in North Wales. Portmeirion village is a tourist location only. As far as I'm aware nobody lives there. We've visited Portmeirion several times and it is very beautiful 😊. My nephew and his wife got married there back in December 2007. Although it rained constantly that day, it was still an amazing place for a wedding. I watch Kirsten and Joerg's vlogs. Like you two, they are such a lovely couple. If you do come over to the UK you won't be disappointed with Wales xxx
It's at the southern edge of the Snowdonia mountain range and I live at the northern tip about 35 miles away, as the prevailing wind is SW that means where I live has slightly less rain than average for the UK (as we're in the rain shadow of Snowdonia) , but Portmeirion has slightly higher rainfall than average, making it so lush! One cool fact is the plates they were served their chips on and were in the shop, were from the Portmeirion pottery which is in The Potteries (Stoke-on-Trent) but was founded by the Susan Williams‐Ellis, the daughter of the architect who designed the village Sir Clough Williams‐Ellis, I used to work as an artist in the Potteries and my brother-in-law worked at Portmeirion pottery so I have quite a lot of it, their Botanic Garden collection is a beautiful timeless design and was directly influenced by Portmeirion village.
I wrote this just mid video btw, always a bad idea lol!
My mother bought a complete dining set of Portmeirion Botanic Garden in 1976 - there was a special offer in Farmers Weekly magazine- so I am very familiar with it as it was our chinaware in daily use for many many years. Some of the plates had insect drawings amongst the flowers , which you would sometimes uncover as you ate !
I also know of Portmerion from The Prisoner. I've seen other videos this couple have done. They do it in a way that's gentle and not ''touristy'' by focussing on the place rather than themselves. They are so cute you just want to protect them and give them a cuddle.
That part of Wales is very underrated.
We want to see more!!
@@TheNatashaDebbieShow Harlech is close by. Has a nice castle.
I've forgotten how many times we've been there, at least 6. Every time we've gone the sun has come out, even if it was a little wet earlier in the day. It's absolutely stunning but also quite rustic as a lot of the elements were handmade or repurposed. The big white building with the dome on the hill - I think the facade was in fact originally a fireplace [an absolutely massive fireplace].
The turquoise that is throughout is a special colour they use to tie everything together. There was a documentary series called the Village, which was a year behind the scenes with those that work there and features the annual Prisoner celebration. They also have a music festival called Festival No.6 which is really good.
I believe there are a few privately owned cottages, because there is a pet cemetery in the woods. Only residents pets are there and some houses have private signs on.
There's a Welsh ice cream company that supplies their ice cream that includes a chilli-chocolate ice cream that is amazing. There are small bits of chilli in the chocolate ice cream that are on fire next to the ice cold chocolate. I love this place so much, I've hundreds of photos of the buildings, flowers and my kids in specific places showing how they've grown over the years or paddling in that pool in the centre of the village.
Hah! The Prisoner's 'Village'.. I spent a great day wandering around there, remembering all the old TV episodes. 😀 The Prisoner fan club 'Six of One' used to operate out of Number Six's house.. tiny in RL compared to the TV filmed set.
A Tom Baker Doctor Who story called The Masque of Mandragora was also filmed at Portmeirion back in the '70's. It's a beautiful place.
We've been in the autumn. It was beautiful with less people. Then driving through Snowdon with the Autumn colours is stunning as well.
My brother took me here on my 50th birthday. It is absolutely beautiful here, it is a tourist trap but that doesn't detract from it at all. If you're anything like me you will appeciate it a lot more if you watch the series that was filmed there, "The Prisoner", as it shows the place at it's absolute best (it's quite a good [very good] spy drama too).
Architecture wise it's really interesting, a lot of the buildings are built to an odd scale - you think it's a large window, arch or balcony but as you get closer it's actually quite small. Part of what makes it magical I think. I've got a friend who stays there at least twice a year.
I’ve been there several times with my late husband, it’s a gorgeous and magical place and I have some wonderful memories of being there. I recommend to anyone who can, go, you won’t regret it.
Ive been there, its fantastic, i stayed in Porthmadog not far from there. Its a photographers dream. I sat outside the hotel there, drinking my cider with a lovely view of the estuary where you can watch the osprey catching fish. BTW nice couple in the video. The pottery was created by the daughter of the architect who built the village
Loved this! Been to Portmeirion. Yes you can stay there and there is even a pet cemetery. Keep up the great work girls! Everyone needs a Natasha & Debbie in their lives 👍
The beautiful Portmeirion Village was built by Welsh architect Clough Williams-Ellis from 1925 to 1973. "Clough hoped that his work at Portmeirion would inspire others." In 1925, Welsh architect Clough Williams-Ellis acquired the site which was to become Portmeirion.
Wales is so beautiful place to go and visit,llove the video
The thing you need to understand is that it is an art installation on a huge scale. The houses are teeny and mostly not lived in (there are a few holiday apartments I believe) The TV series treated it as a real village by combining shots of different buildings to make it look like one and so on. But it is all basically a tourist destination designed to demonstrate architectural concepts. Viewed in that light it is a triumph and every corner offers an amazing vista. The chessboard wasn't originally intended to be there but featured in the TV show and subsequent visitors expected to see it, so it stayed!
This is a place I have always wanted to go to . I was a prisoner fan back in the day .glad you enjoyed the video ladies 😊
I went here for the first time, just a couple of weeks ago. Stayed in the north of Wales (Snowdonia area) and we just had to visit this place. I’m glad we did, it’s absolutely stunning.
Been there a few times, it really is as gorgeous as the video
What an absolutely stunning video. I had never heard of this village, what a beautiful gem you have treated us to 😍 Your videos make me realise I need to be exploring home turf more. Thank you! :)
Portmeirion is a lovely place. Osborne House on the Isle of Wight is beautiful as is Fountains Abbey in Yorkshire. Isles of Scilly is a magical set of small islands 15 minutes helicopter flight from the coast of Cornwall. The Lake District is stunning. Lots of beautiful places in 🇬🇧. I’ve just found your channel on RUclips and thoroughly enjoying it ❤
Visited it a fair few times, it’s fabulous. As is Anglesey, a lovely corner of the country.
Another great reaction!
Wow!!!! The best of 2 worlds! I loved this! My sister & I used to watch an English show, "Rosemary & Thyme." It reminded me of where they would go plant flowers etc.!! LOVED it!
Love you guys so much, your love for learning is so infectious(in a good way). Have a look at Much Wenlock in Shropshire, just a few miles from Wales. It's the home of the modern Olympics, run by a French Baron.
and while at it look at Ironbridge a world heritage site
Stokesay Castle near there is beautiful too!
A beautiful fairytale village. A long time since we last visited and you have inspired us to return there. The Prisoner was black and white TV and as a kid, I was completely enthralled by it. Way ahead of its time. My sister-in-law was a hand painter at Portmeirion many years ago and created some beautiful pieces for them. The factory is in Stoke on Trent.
The Prisoner was made in colour, although it may have been B/W when first transmitted, not sure.
@@allanmanaged5285 all uk tv was black and white when The Prisoner was first broadcast, but it was filmed in colour. The hotel has a tv channel with the whole series playing on a loop
The Prisoner was shot in colour. It was made by Lew Grade's ITC company who made a lot of well known ITV shows from that era (The Saint, Dangerman, Man in a Suitcase, The Baron etc - plus all the Gerry Anderson series - Stingray, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet etc). Grade was always trying to sell his series to the US market so, from around 1963, he shot them in colour as American TV began to broadcast in colour around that time.
UK colour TV started in 1967 so, if you were one of the lucky few who owned a colour TV in the UK in 1967, you would have seen The Prisoner in colour on its first showing. It got a mixed reception at the time but it was repeated on ITV on and off all through the 70s. Channel 4 showed it again in the 80s.
North Wales? Rather wet at times, but when the sun comes out.......... Absolutely Stunning!
I love hiking in Snowdonia rain, snow or sun, stunning
Another incredible place to visit. Watching this video felt very relaxing. So much beauty! Thanks Natasha & Debbie ❤
Thank you for watching ♥️
You can't go wrong with Kirsten & Joerg's videos well filmed & edited & Jorge's amazing drone footage when he's allowed 🥰🥰
I'm related to the guy who built it, Clough Williams-Ellis, I've been many times as I go to North Wales often. On a summer's day it is really exceptional and worth a visit if you're in the area!
I have stayed there a couple of times when my eldest kid was little. We have photos of us on the private beach that most visitors don't find. White sand, we didn't go in the sea though, it was December, unseasonably warm but still...😂
I`ve been practically everywhere there is to go in Wales, a dozen times over. It`s a beautiful country nomatter the time of year, but late Spring / early Summer is spectacular. They won`t thank me - on the grounds that I`m English. But you chaps should be fine. Seriously - all the Welsh people I`ve ever known or met have been fine and courteous toward me.
I'm Welsh, and have never been there. Time to take a short trip up to Portmeirion in the summer. Thanks gals for the video!
Been here quite a few times. You can visit for the day or self catering, apartments or the hotels. Portmeirion when everyone has gone home is magical.
I remember watching "the Prisoner" as a boy. I assume it was a continuation of "Danger man" but with a much more oblique context. The big white ball was particularly scary. When it attacked it just seemed relentless. Patrick McGoohan was apparently quite a weird bloke. I suppose He chose Portmeirion because of it's slightly unreal appearance which, in the series gave it an almost sinister quality. I dont remember whether He ever actually escaped.
Spoiler alert - he does, and, more importantly, his Lotus 7 is returned to him.
@@EricIrl Or does he? Does anybody escape from their own village?
@@ianbarkham5080 Don’t over think it.
Watch out for those big beach-ball thingies, they are rather aggressive.
ORANGE ALERT! ..release 'Rover' 😮 (..actually very fragile weather balloons were used.. dragged along on fishing wire, they kept popping! 😆)
@@slaintejimmy I can't help feeling that if he just jumped on one of the penny farthings he could have outdistanced them! ;)
or beaten them back with an umbrella!
@@deanmaynard8256 ..or properly booted it in a mini-moke.. a company hires mini-mokes on Jersey.. I couldn't help thinking of the Prisoner every time one whizzed by. 😃
Take a sharp pin!
I visited Portmeirion back in 2010 when convalescing from pneumonia. It is beautiful and a surprise around every corner. The Prisoner: lead character, 'I am not a number', a voice answers, 'Yes, number 6'. Sorry I had to. 🤣
We used to tour Wales in our caravan and visited Portmeirion twice. It really is so tranquil and magical. I am also old enough to have seen the tv show The Prisoner filmed there. Thanks for bringing back those lovely memories.
As a child we alwauys went to wales an this was one the places we went to year after year. I love it ❤
We visited Portmerion about 25 years ago, a few months before our youngest was born and when our older two were 8 and 5. We stayed across the bay near Ynys and Talsarnau. This is also near Harlech which is well worth visiting for the castle; my Welsh father-in-law's car almost gave up while driving up the very steep hill to the castle.
It looks just as beautiful now, from the video, as it did then. Looking back this was one of the best holidays I remember having with my family, but thinking about it now probably wasn't that great for my pregnant wife plus with two young kids.
We're visiting Wales with family this July, staying in Pwllheli, and after being reminded by this video I wonder if we should try to fit in a day at Portmerion too.
We stayed in Portmadoc and theres so much to see in the area .
But a trip to Portmerion is a must .
Quite extraordinary .
I've been there, many years ago. One of the reasons I wanted to go (not because I'm Italian) was because of 'The Prisoner. It was one of my favourite TV series in the 70s ( Igrew up in Canada BTW). So much to learn about this place. There's Portmeirion Pottery which is famous worldwide.
Her English accent is amazing!
I've stayed at Portmeirion many times, usually in the autumn (fall) or winter. I live in the very centre of England, north of Birmingham and it's only 110 miles away.
The whole place is a hotel - with two actual hotels and self-catering cottages, some of which are run as serviced hotel rooms. The old hotel by the estuary is the original victorian house. The village is built into what were the gardens on the house, called Aber Ia, and the second hotel is the victorian castle on the drive. It's fascinating to discover that some parts of the village are actually 19th century. The woods are wonderful. I was last there on a sunny day in 2021 and by the time I got to the beach I was on my own. It was absolutely silent. Oh, and autumn can be warm. I had one holiday there in late October when it was as colourful as New England and warm enough to sit outside eating. But it's romantic in the rain. It's very near the highest mountains, close to the town of Porthmadog and you can get there by train to Minfordd - which is also a station on the narrow gauge Ffestinion Railway. You must explore Welsh narrow gauge railways!
Hello Natasha and Debbie, I recommend a reaction to Galicia, a region of Spain where I live and which is one of the Celtic nations and is twinned with Scotland, our instrument is the bagpipe and our land is green and the climate is rainy in winter and warm In summer, wonderful beaches and islands with paradisiacal beaches. Galicia is very similar to the United Kingdom because we are very close. The coast of Galicia is the Atlantic Ocean, just like the United Kingdom. Greetings from the city of Vigo, Galicia. Thank you .
Hi avdastamarina. Back in 1978, I spent 4 weeks at a summer school at Salamanca University. Afterwards I, and an American friend, took the train to Vigo, arriving late in the day. Everywhere was booked up, but while in a hotel bar, we met the driver of the train we’d come on. He took us back to the train and put us up in a carriage. We’d just settled down when a policeman arrived, pointed to the station platform and said, ‘El banco’, so that’s where we spent the night. The next morning, we took the train to Santiago de Compostela, spent a few wonderful days there and then on to La Coruna. As you say, Galicia is part of Europe’s Celtic Fringe and has a lot in common with Britain, especially Scotland, where I live. I will always remember how beautiful It was and my short, but memorable, stay in Vigo.
Regards, Martin.
Hello avdastamarina, I spent a couple of weeks driving and camping in Galicia many years ago, we visited Santander, Vigo, Lugo, La Corina and Santiago, so beautiful and reminded me of Ireland.
My wife and I spent our honeymoon there in February 1973. The weather was surprisingly mild. We stayed in a cottage at the top of the village called Chantry Row 2. It was so beautifully decorated and furnished with antiques. The main hotel suffered a fire a couple of years later which destroyed the beautiful restaurant and other parts. (Since rebuilt) Well worth a visit.
I find the joy of Portmerion is the clever use of different perspectives. Walk along a path, admiring the view. Stop, turn around and the different view will blow your mind.
Portmeirion is a fantastic location. I was in a touring production of Don Quixote in 2007. I played Sancho Panza. We did a couple of shows there. A fabulous experience.
Portmeirion is even more lovely in real life. It is so clean and fresh as it is repainted so often. I've been a few times. I love North Wales as a whole.
The hotel is the 4 star Hotel Portmeirion.
The big white ball following you everywhere. Can't say i ever watched it. Looking forward to this xx
Portmeirion gets around 200,000 visitors a year, I live an hour away if visiting I would advise to go in the winter months less tourists
Portmeirion is primarily a residential development. The architect behind it wanted to show that high density housing could be built without the bleak housing estates he hated. Unfortunately he lost that battle.
What a wonderful place and to think I only lived about 50 miles and never knew of its existence. Thanks for the vid and your usual lovely enthusiasm for wonderful places . I must admit initially it reminded me of Croatia
I went with my mum and dad a few years ago. It's one of the last places we visited together before mum died. As an ignorant youngster I was truly blown away by this place, and walking around it I got the sense that it had largely been forgotten by the British public.
I only live 12 miles from Portmeirion and the village is celebrating it is Centenary next year 2024!!
They used to turn the whole village into a music/art festival called festival number 6 for 1 weekend each September. Had some great artists come to perform there. Sad it no longer happens
I think "Number 6" was the central character in the '60s TV series "The Prisoner" filmed there.
Wales is a country with beautiful villages, countryside and fantastic coastline. The Pembrokeshire coast is glorious!
We visited Portmeirion for the first time this week. Mid week and not the school holidays so it wasn't overly busy. A surprise around every corner, a magical woodland walk and down to the beach with its fabulous views on a lovely sunny day. It was a unique and fascinating experience, set on the western edge of the Snowdonia National Park which is beautiful itself and well worth exploring.
I haven't commented on your videos before , watching your videos really brighten my day, I've just watched the port mererion and ten by ones both places are brilliant, port mererion is very busy in the summer but still pleasant the is an Italian restaurant in the center of the village that serves great food, hope you do visit great Britain, and have you ever seen any of the Isle of wight videos, that is another great place to visit, love you both , thanks Chris
The sixties TV Show"the Prisoner" was filmed here.Patrick McGoohan played Number six, constantly trying to escape as he was imprisoned there.Still a cult classic.We visited in the late eighties doesn't seemed to have changed much.
Try to see if there are any videos on the Minack Theatre in Cornwall. Its an outdoor one with stunning views of the sea beyond the stage.
Just read this I've just wrote a comment saying the same. 👍
My family comes from the village next door to Portmeirion, I spent many happy hours playing there as a little boy. In the 70's and 80's every Friday they would have a fireworks display, which was awesome, the village does have a creepy feel to it at night! Various members of my family have worked here over the years! The Ffestiniog Railway in Porthmadog is also amazing with some fabulous views only a 10-minute drive from Portmeirion.
The whole area is stunning, it's on the border of Snowdonia National Park and Betws-y-Coed is somewhere really worth a visit.
The whole coastline from Harlech around to Criccieth is absolutely stunning. You have 2 castles, Portmeirion, Potmadoc and the light railways. Also the north Wales coast ha Caernarfon and Conway Castles. Anglesey is beautiful with a dark past linked with the Druids. Just beautiful. I holidayed in that whole region with mum and dad for 10 years and sadly my dad passed away there but couldn’t have gone in a more glorious region.
I have been many years ago and remembered it being lovely but revisiting with you this morning has helped me realise just how stunning a place it really is . I must go back again someday. Thanks for sharing this cute couples video with us , really enjoyed watching this as l do ALL YOUR SHOWS🇬🇧🇺🇸🦚🍦
Been there a few years ago when my parents were alive , stunning place ,there's a little woodland walk in the grounds but never found the pet cemetery. Been meaning to go back.
A welshie born and bred here (southern welsh admittedly) but id pronounce the villiage port-may-rion, welsh is a beautiful language and i'd encourage more folk (welsh or not) to learn it !🏴
(Edit: to my knowledge, no-one lives in portmeirion, its purely a tourist town :) )
I love that you're both reacting to Kristen and Jeorg! My RUclips worlds collide!!!
The lady in the video mentioned a t.v. series "The prisoner", which was made there some years ago. It's a very quirky tale about a secret agent who quits his job and then is kidnapped by his enemies [the other side] and finds himself a prisoner in the village. The rest of the series is about his failed attempts to escape the village. It caused quite astir in the U.K. and some people actually still wear the emblems representing the series from the 1960s, a small pinbadge with a penny farthing bicycle on it.
Yay. You went there! Well done. It’s such an oddity, but a very beautiful spot. There are many in the UK but that’s an unusual one.
I’m going to push my luck. Try the Isles of Scilly and the sub-tropical gardens at Tresco. So hard to get to but some of the best beaches on the planet in my view.
1960s TV series made in Britain would use Portmeirion and other locations in Wales to represent other places in the world.
Patrick McGoohan was an actor who saw the place when filming episodes of 'Danger Man' ('Secret Agent' in the USA), and on hearing stories from some of the TV series writers about such places rumoured to exist in Britain during WWII.
They existed to imprison enemy spies captured, our own agents who were under suspicion, or agents hospitalised, or people who 'knew too much' but were still useful (some of such places were real and information on them has been declassified).
So he and others suggested a TV series about the craziness of espionage stories and the techniques of brainwashing, enhanced interrogation, etc. that were going around as rumours in the 1960s.
It became a sort of sequel to Danger Man, being (probably) the same man, but after he tried to resign from intelligence work.
It's a wonderful bit of 1960s weirdness and fed into the paranoia about 'enemy agents under every bed' popular at the time.
The 1960s 'The Prisoner' is well worth finding, the remake many years later, less so.
Fans and a fanclub of the series still exist, known as 'Six of One', and once a year, Portmeirion turns back the clock to when the TV series was made there.
My mother bought a set of Portmeirion 'Botanica' dinner plates in the 1960s. After she passed I inherited them, and I just had sausage, eggs and chips off 'diaonaea muscipula'. Happy days.
Newquay, Cornwall, is recommended!
And catch an event at The Minack cliffside amphitheatre
@@kelvinlambert4249 Too right! A beautiful location!!
Shropshire(England) and all the Welsh marches are stunning to see, and represent the remains of ancient Britain how all of it used to be! Stay in Port merrion and also stay in Shrewsbury, you will never want to leave.
This place is amazingly beautiful just like you guys
Portmeirion is a truly magical place, I've been a few times and was not that busy on both occasions. As people have mentioned the tv show the prisoner was filmed there, starring and created by the late Patrick McGoohan. It is a prison in the show for the James Bond type, MI6, etc. It is called the village, a must-watch if you can find it. Nice one girls, you've kick-started old memories. ❤