Over the years my wife Sharon and I have had many pleasant stays at Portmeirion.
During one of the first few we met a couple of fellow Prisoner enthusiast who have become life long friends. The four of us have returned many times and created wonderful Village moments.Each time during our stay we would always venture out at night and usually got up to some fun mischief. The idea was to enjoy the special mood the quiet, lighted atmosphere created .Well, maybe the dinner and several pints at the Golden Fleece Pub near by had something to do with the mood but I digress.
This night we ended up sitting on one of the benches(one of our many squigging opportunities) in the piazza and everything seemed perfect. Almost everything that is,because the fountain was not on. As luck would have it I had seen a gardener turn it on that morning so was appointed to do so too .Feeling a bit like a burglar ,I crept to the pump, concealed in a box near the bench .After removing the top and fumbling around inside the box's darkness there was a whirring sound and the water shot up in the air. I hurried back to the bench and we all laughed hysterically. Then we started babbling about Mrs Cartwright ( the rather stern hotel manager at the time) and all this talk about being banished . At the height of our laughing hysteria a voice
boomed out of the darkness saying NO ONE WILL BE BANISHED ,HAVE A NICE EVENING! It was an odd, slightly sobering moment. Our very own magical Prisonerish experience in the Portmeirion Village! It is one of my favorite Village moments .