Gaskell Society Conference - Plas Penryn and Porthmadog

Plas Penryn is a beautiful house in an even more beautiful setting, on a hillside overlooking the Porthmadog estuary.  It was inhabited on a long lease by Gaskell's cousin Samuel Holland, who made a lot of money from the local slate quarries. Gaskell was a frequent visitor there a both before and after her marriage, and I could quite see why. 

The house is currently owned by a Welsh architect who lives in London but bought the house with the intention of refurbishing it quite some time ago. We had not therefore expected to be allowed inside it, just to walk around the grounds, but the person who keeps an eye on it for the owner was happy to let us all in and have a good look round. If I had a million pounds to spend on buying and refurbishing a house I'd have this one in a heartbeat; it has lots of space and oodles of charm. In deference to the fact that it is a private hoe I didn't take many pictures inside but there are a couple, although most of these are of the garden. 

 I note that, in the same way that Orkney is a place for hebe and fuchsia, North Wales appears to be a place for hydrangeas and we were there at just the right time of year to see them. 

View from the dining room window over the estuary to Porthmadog

If I could paint, I'd have a go at this ....

The wooden structure on the left is a greenhouse in which were growing  ....

....yes, yer actual grapes

I was saying about the hydrangeas...

two general views of the outside of the house 

and blackberry blossom, lining the road we walked up to get to the house. I had many attempts to catch this,and this was the best one , although its still not very good. 

After we'd seen the house the coach took us into Portmadog where we were a served our choice of tea or coffee and cake, at a very efficient cafe who coped with us all magnificently. They did know we  were coming and had sorted themselves out a system accordingly, we were impressed. I had the standard Gaskell Society Conference scone with cream and jam. A bit of a risk given my current status as a low fat eater, but all was well, despite the gargantuan size of the scone!