Only prigs and bores could object to the incongruity of Portmeirion
The only answer to the question ‘What connects Brian Epstein, Frank Lloyd Wright, Portofino and Stevenage?’ is ‘Portmeirion’, a conceptualised village on the north Wales coast. You could call it a folly, except it is living, not dead; and it exerts a lasting fascination. Traditional modernists deplore its flamboyant historicism – ‘retro-kitsch whimsy’ – but Jan Morris, a neighbour, said that only prigs and bores are truly hostile. Portmeirion needs a lot of explaining, as Sarah Baylis does in this first independent study of an enchanting project. It is well-researched, but not an academic reference book nor a continuous narrative. Instead, it is an eclectic album of comment and recollection,
