Okay so the tv series the prisoner was repeated on tv recently, and as a result there was a coach trip to visit port meirion the home of the prisoner (affectionately known as the village), where the tv series was based and filmed… okay, so you pay the coach fare through malvernian tours, which is supposed to include entry, but when you get there you have to pay an additional entry fee (which was also widely disputed, the coach driver states x ammount, which you can pay to him directly, or get off the coach and pay the toll keeper, we chose to pay the toll keeper rather than wait for the coach driver wasting time.. of course the toll keeper knows nothing and tries to charge about 3 times the cost of what the driver quoted… so we talk, he goes off talks to a manager, then uses special concession rates which were noted on a different sign hidden in the office (which obviousely is the normal rate when they arent expecting coaches) this was still double the cost, so we had to dispute even further until eventually he gave in and gave us the advertised rate…
Okay so now youre inside, you would expect that having paid to get in that they would have made some effort to preserve the scene or at least make it look themed to the prisoner, but no Im afraid apart from the prisoner shop selling branded merchendise at a very ripoff price you would be hard found to find much that you could recognise from the program. The houses all have names, where in the series they were simply numbered, there is no identifiable house to say which belonged to number 6 in the tv series, you cannot go into any inside area that would have been fun to see like the command center or number 2’s office, I mean if youve had to pay to get in surely keeping these in situe would have been a clever marketing ploy, and giving tours, but no none of that, no effort at all made to preserve the features of the show, even the cafe from the show is gone, there is however a different cafe elsewhere but its far too modern and looks nothing like in the program. So charging to get in somewhat defeats the purpose in my view, and is a big waste of money.
But what can you do youve paid to get on a coach and youve been taken to the place its either pay to get in or wander the wilderness of nothingness that surrounds the village. Even though it was supposed to be included in the price paid previousely. I just cant see what charging an entry fee to such a small place with now seemingly no reasonable reason to charge does for the place, no wonder they charge such extortionate rates for the memorabilia inside, because customers cant get in to buy unless theyve paid large entry fee’s. I felt sorry for the young girls working in the stores, they must’ve felt like prisoners themselves, and they mustve been shocked to see someone as young as me in the town as mostly it was very old people on the tour and Im sure its like that most days, I swear one of them was giving me the eye… had I been on my own mightve been worth trying it on.. but alas lol…
Anyway I wouldnt go again, nowhere near what I expected of the place, I at least expected there to be some remenents and recognisable parts of the show you could see, and to be able to go look inside buildings like number 6’s house, number 2’s and the command center, but there was nothing of the sorts. The most interesting thing there was an out of place golden budda. Why people would want to pay to stay in the hotel at the place is beyond me, we were only there a few hours and did and saw everything there was to see there, its a village in the middle of knowhere, what could you do other than sit inside and watch tv all day?