Portmeirion is one of the wonders of Wales. This colourful Italianate village, established on the Welsh coast by the extraordinary-and eccentric-self-taught architect, Sir Clough Williams-Ellis, demonstrates the force of his belief that beauty is a "strange necessity".
That Strange Necessity offers a visual and poetic tribute to his creation, a place of pilgrimage for all who care about the quality of the relationship between the built and natural environment. On a smaller scale, Portmeirion deserves to be set beside cities like Bath, Oxford--even Venice--for its successful harmonisation of form and function. Designed as a series of seven walks across and around the village and radiating out into the wild garden to the west of Portmeirion, this book portrays in paint and verse the buildings, monuments and sights that comprise its strange integrity and strong attraction for all who 'have eyes to see'.
In words and images That Strange Necessity offers visions of Portmeirion, a place created in the twentieth century by a visionary architect, but which now seems timeless in its beauty, endlessly fascinating, and inspiring to all who visit it.
