Portmeirion 2016
The magic of Portmeirion was as impressive as ever as 66 Porsche Club members assembled for Sunday lunch after a drive through some of Wales’ wildest weather. Rain, high winds and thick low level cloud didn’t dampen our enthusiasm for our fifth annual visit to this wonderful Italian style village set in the heart of Snowdonia.
The food was better than ever thanks to, award winning Head Chef, Mark Threadgill with precision service to our seven tables. Light hearted entertainment was provided by a ‘guess the number of the most popular courses’ with a bottle of white, red and pudding wine for the appropriate dishes. Unfortunately we had to part with three bottles of Sauvignon Blanc as Adrian Stuart, Victoria Stansfied and Barry Dolton guessed the correct number of the delicious Seafood Chowder starter. From deepest South Wales, Dave King was correct with 29 Roast beef and Melanie Heney collected a cheeky little pudding wine for predicting that half the guests would choose the Apple and Blackberry Crumble.
Not wanting any fuss on her birthday Nette was shocked when a birthday dessert was placed in front of her along with a bottle of Prosecco and a loud chorus of Happy Birthday – it had to be done!
The friendly relaxed atmosphere carried on throughout the afternoon and merged into the evening dinner party with background music from the Welsh harpist and more special delights from the kitchen. Several commented that the quality of the food at dinner even managed to exceed that of the lunch with the specially prepared vegan choices also surpassing expectations. Greasing the palm of the Maitre d’ produced ‘steak and chips’ for a couple from ‘up north’ much to the amusement of their fellow diners.
Once again the sun shone as we ate a hearty breakfast before heading our separate ways for a pleasant drive home. The scenery of North Wales was as stunning as ever and the roads were quiet enough for man and machine to work in complete harmony.
Thanks must go to everyone for making this such a successful event. It was a pleasure to meet other members from further afield and I hope we will see you all again next year.
Phil Graham