Be Seeing You!

So, today my husband and I are driving through Wales and I had him pull over so I could take a photo of this absolutely stunning scenery (thankfully, there was a little spot you could pull over into... otherwise we would have been creamed. There are no shoulders over here). As I stood outside taking photos (and had a weird showdown with a sheep, who stared at me and bleated, unsure of why I was taking photos of his family and their hill), my husband was inside the car, figuring out that the castle we were supposed to see today was too far off the map and we were never going to get there. So he was reading the guidebook and discovered a little town nearby he thought I might be interested in, and as soon as he said the name of it, I screamed.

It's the second-best place to Oahu for me. This one's for Corey R., CK, and anyone else who has seen the show (and you know who you are). Here was the sign as we entered the place:



Oh yeah, we are officially in The Village!! If you’re a fan of The Prisoner like I am, you can understand the excitement of it. This is the most bizarre place I’ve ever seen. Built as a weird seaside resort by this eccentric architect (who started it in the 20s and finished it in 1976), it contains architecture and paintings and sculptures from all over the world, all kinds of styles, and it’s hard to pin down exactly what it is. Which is probably why the company thought this was the perfect place to put Number 6.

Here’s the entryway as you come into the town:


You go down a pathway and come around a corner, and you can see the beach that Number 6 spends a lot of time on in the opening episodes trying to run away on (and being chased by Rover, the big white ball that smothers people to death):



Then you go under this arch. If you look closely, on the right is Number 6’s house (now it’s a gift shop devoted to all things The Prisoner… and it was closed when we got there!! Argh. Oh well… no tailored Number 6 jacket or messenger bag with “Be Seeing You!” written on the side of it, or Prisoner pens/buttons/erasers… yeah, I looked in the window. (They even had the PHONE that Number 2 uses!):



Then as you pass by Number 6’s house, this is what you see:



It’s the courtyard! That’s the fountain where we first see Rover come out and smoosh someone in the first episode. At the end of the courtyard you can see the balcony where Number 2 usually talks to the crowd, and where Number 6 campaigns for president. This is me running my own campaign:



Facing away from the pool, here is the ground and the little riser where they play the game of chess using people as the pieces:



Coming down the side of a hill, you get closer to the beach, where there’s an expensive hotel and restaurant. You can see the café chairs where Number 6 plays chess (with a board) and talks with an elderly person in the Village:



Standing on the beach, here’s a stitched-together photo of The Village:



And finally, here is me standing on the beach. In the sand were various names of people who’d been there that day (and one clever person had carved a Dalek, which was hilarious… clearly a Prisoner fan!). So this is me joining the legions of people who came here to get a taste of the TV show, and… oh my god, what is that behind me? ACK! Nikki, run! By hook or by crook, get out of th-- :::smoosh:::