Yesterday Tellytubby, old Uncle Albert and I paid a visit to the Brondanw Estate in Llanfrothen. It was the home of Sir Clough Williams Ellis who went on to build Portmeirion. The walk itself was relatively easy but as we had never been there before we wanted to see the places of interest there. We parked our car in the car park by the house and headed first of all to the quarry which I believe Clough Williams Ellis intended to make it into a grotto but didn't get round to doing it for some reason. It's quite impressive and you can see the potential there, we noticed a monument at the top of the quarry so we headed up there to have a look at it. The monument is called The Flaming Urn, and was erected when the house was rebuilt after a fire. It stands at the brink of an old quarry, a steep, narrow, rocky drop to a dark pool – an irresistible invitation for the architect-gardener to create another piece of theatre with a fountain and basin fed by a cascade.
After a quick glance down to the pool we headed uphill to the tower. The tower was built by Clough with funds given to him as a wedding present from his fellow officers soon after the First World War and I've copied an extract from a conversation Clough had with his commanding officer
" Clough describes his Commanding Officer first offering a silver salver. Clough gently suggests that silver might not be the most useful present, and is then asked to choose something else:
"Me: Well, Sir, what I should really like would be a ruin.
C.O.: A . . . WHAT?
Me: A ruin - as an outlook tower. You see, Sir, there happens to be a rocky eminence close above my home on which I have always felt there should be a tower of some sort as a fitting crown and as a superb view-point commanding wonderful panoramas from the summit of Snowdon to the sea.
C.O.: Well, if you want a ruin, I suppose you had better have a ruin - though it's an odd sort of wedding present, I must say."
Anyway it is a very impressive folly and every door, every window has spectacular views and the folly must have been built with those views in mind, A steep narrow staircase takes you to the top of the tower and the views are breathtaking. My only warning is that the roof level on the stairs is quite low so if anyone visits it please take care. Don't do what I did and hit your head on the concrete roof!
We took many photos up there and on our way down we saw one of Clough's seating areas that made an ideal spot for having our lunch
After lunch it was downhill to Plas Brondanw and a look around the gallery. We didn't venture into the gardens but will do so next time when all the plants are in flower.
We then drove to Porthmadog where old Uncle Albert provided us with a cup of tea and the biggest slice of Carrot cake that I've ever had. A lovely way to end a nice gentle walk and to remember that it's not just the walks but the company that matters