Thursday, 19 August 2010

In the wrong place...

To the extreme right hand side of Anglesey, the ‘Island’ as it’s called around here, right on the tip of the jutting land, sits Beaumaris - a town out of place.

Why out of place? Well, to me it looks like it should sit in Devon or Dorset, Somerset even, with its dumpy castle, short pier, pastel painted-creamy-dreamy cottages and winding streets. Yes, it definitely belongs in the South West, not North Wales.

Still I’m not complaining, it’s a nice place to wander for a couple of hours on a holiday afternoon, looking across the Straits to the mountains, mingling with the crabbers on the pier, dodging the showers in gift shops - finding a surprise at every turn of the corner. It’s a town splattered with history, a Victorian posting box, a hidden house, 1766 scratched into the deep blue slate of a windowsill.

Need I go on? No - I expect by now you’ve guessed how much I like the place.

Beaumaris. Maybe it was washed north along the coast by a storm, dumped down on the shingle all higgledy-piggledy and jumbled, to be set straight and to stay. Go see for yourself, you’ll see what I mean.

8 comments:

  1. I love Beaumaris. There was a bakery there, possibly still is,that sold the most amazing waffle type biscuits with a thin toffee layer. Sit them on top of your mug of coffee to warm the toffee. Yum

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  2. Still there - and a new sweet shop that sells Flying Saucers and Pear Drops.

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  3. Lynda Henderson from the US commented on Facebook:

    Devon is about 5 minutes from King of Prussia, and North Wales is about 30 minutes... i have been to both!

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  4. Hi Lynda - and what about Bryn Mawr? That's in KOP, I've been there.

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  5. I like things that are out of place. There's nothing quite as boring as conformity.
    In North Wales, whenever you look in land from the beach you see those magnificant mountains. The South West has nothing to touch that.

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  6. Those brightly pained houses remind me of Ireland.

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  7. Al Spence e-mailed:

    Fish and chips under the arch that leads to the pier. The long hill. The white gleaming yachts. Hangman's point. Edwards castle and Owain Glyndwr. White swans that stare at you from across the moat like spirits past. The court and the jail, 'ah' inevitable for some of us. George Melly rest his soul.

    Men of knowledge consider it to be where the Batavian Auxiliaries swam ashore and massacred the druids.

    I am convinced that some of the woodlands on the high ground North and North East of the town were once the sites of ancient sacred Oak groves. Have a walk up past Henllys Hall to the monument you'll see what I mean. Try it just before dusk. The Fish and chips are the best ever. Oh and I almost forgot one of my favorites Crabs.

    Alan

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  8. I was in Beaumaris a few weeks ago. I struggled against a strong wind along one side of the pier to come across a quiet little suntrap right at the end where I sat and watched the fishermen watching their fishing rods in absolute tranquility. Subsequently, a little girl in a beautiful white dress appeared (probably part of a wedding group) and sat dangling her legs over the edge for a few minutes. It was just like being in a Krzysztof Kieslowski film*.
    It was wonderful being in 'the wrong place' for a short while...

    * Director of 'Three Colours Red/White/Blue' & 'The Double Life Of Veronique' amongst others.

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