THE FACTS ABOUT CASTELL DEUDRAETH

Portmeirion is an acquired taste. The candy-coloured, Italianate village on the north Welsh coast, built between 1926 and 1972 by architect-eccentric Clough Williams-Ellis, features follies, faux Palladian mansions and colonnaded gardens (it was where Patrick McGoohan filmed his 1960s cult series The Prisoner). Until recently, visitors stayed at the whimsical and overpriced Hotel Portmeirion on the seafront. But in May 2001, Castell Deudraeth opened, a 19th-century mansion five minutes' walk from the village. The austere Victorian pile is now an 11-room, all-suite hotel with a Conran-esque restaurant. Rooms are decorated with modern red, blue and peppermint-green sofas, leather cube chairs, huge flat-screen televisions, slate, oak panelling, lilac Welsh-wool rugs and real-flame gas fires. The only problem is a certain lack of soul. COST Doubles £170 CONTACT Castell Deudraeth, Portmeirion, Gwynedd (01766 770000; fax: 771771; email: castell@portmeirion-village.com; www.portmeirion-village.com)