HERO OF ERYRI: MR BATES VERSUS THE POST OFFICE

 

I am not an emotional person, and I do not tear up easily.  This is especially true when watching TV dramas and films (one notable exception being Titanic).  However, the ITV drama Mr Bates Versus the Post Office had me blubbing like a baby, partly out of rage at the sight of ordinary, decent, blameless people being wrongly convicted, bankrupted and in some cases driven to suicide following what was described as the biggest miscarriage of justice in British legal history, and partly out of joy at the end, when the Court of Appeal overturned the convictions of some of the subpostmasters (those still alive to see justice) and the ensuing scenes of jubilation outside the Court, all as the result of the tireless efforts of Alan Bates to get justice not just for himself, but for all his fellow subpostmasters..

The horror brought on by this shocking story is offset by the beauty of some of the locations used in the series, particularly the scenes filmed around North Wales.  The seaside resort of Llandudno, where the real life Alan Bates was a subpostmaster, puts in an appearance at the start.  The shop containing the post office was in the Craig-y-Don part of town, and St David’s Hospice on Queens Road was used as the location for it. 

 

Llandudno, looking towards the Great Orme.

After the Post Office terminates Bates’ contract when he is wrongly accused of accounting errors, he and his partner Suzanne move to a house in an idyllic location in Snowdonia.  The real life house which serves as their home is in the Nant Ffrancon valley in Eryri National Park. 

There is a pub in a beautiful riverside location which features in several of the scenes.  This is the Saracen’s Head in the Snowdonia village of Beddgelert, reachable both by road and via the Welsh Highland Railway, which runs between Caernarfon and Porthmadog.

Bridge at Beddgelert, Gwynedd - geograph.org.uk - 2630855. Photo by Peter Trimming, via Wikimedia Commons.

Llandudno is a typical seaside resort with a long promenade and a pier, but what sets it apart from other resorts is its magnificent setting, dominated by the Great Orme, which can be ascended on foot, via the Great Orme Tramway or via cable car.  The mountainous area surrounding it is a National Park, formerly known as Snowdonia, but now with its Welsh name Eryri.  Beddgelert is in the heart of the National Park and is very popular with walkers and other outdoor enthusiasts. 

Map of Gwynedd.

ANOTHER DOSE OF CYMRU NOIR: HIDDEN/NORTH WALES

Six years ago I blogged about a Welsh crime series called Hinterland, which was compared at the time to some of the ‘nordic noir’ series from Scandinavia such as The Killing, and was filmed mainly in the West Wales county of Ceredigion.  With Hidden we get another dose of ‘Cymru noir’.  This series, starring Sian Reese-Williams as DI Cadi John and Sion Alun Davies as DS Owen Vaughan, takes us a bit further north to Bangor and Snowdonia, which provides a suitably chilling backdrop to many of the scenes in the series.  For this piece I am concentrating on series 1, first shown in 2018.

The series kicks off, predictably, with the discovery of a woman’s body, but the locations used for this part are further south than Snowdonia.  The crime which led to this discovery is committed at the scene of the highest waterfall in Wales, Henrhyd Falls, which is further south than the fictional location in the series, in the Brecon Beacons.  The waterfall plunges into the Graig Llech Gorge at the southern edge of the Brecon Beacons National Park in the county of Powys.  The viaduct visible in the scene where the discovery of the body takes place is also further south.  The Pontsarn Viaduct near Merthyr Tydfil was built in the 1860s to carry the Brecon and Merthyr Railway over the Taf Fechan river.

Henrhyd Falls (9165). Photo by Nilfanion, via Wikimedia Commons.

Back in Snowdonia, one beautiful sight which appears again and again in the series is the wonderful Menai Strait with its two bridges.  The Menai Strait, which is 25 Km long, separates the Welsh mainland from the charming island of Anglesey.  The island is linked  to the mainland by two bridges, the Menai Suspension Bridge, opened in 1826, and the Britannia Bridge, opened in 1850.  The city of Bangor lies on the mainland side of the strait, and is the location of a university which was founded in 1884.  The university features heavily in the storyline of Hidden, as one of the main characters, the self-harming Megan Ruddock (Gwyneth Keyworth), is an undergraduate there.   

Interwoven with the crime story is the story of Cadi’s family with its trials and tribulations, including her worries about her terminally ill father.  The location of the house her father lives in is provided by Ynys Castell, a holiday home in real life on a tiny island in the Menai Strait.  For around four hours twice each day the island can only be reached by boat as it is cut off from the mainland.

Ynys Castell - geograph.org.uk - 586428. Photo by Eric Jones, via Wikimedia Commons.

North Wales, like most beautiful and touristy parts of Britain, is an area of haves and have-nots, and this comes across in the series with some of the characters living in poor, run-down looking villages and estates, albeit with the ever-present backdrop of Snowdonia. The Maes Padarn estate in Llanberis is a typical example which features heavily in the series.  The estate is on the outskirts of a touristy town with a number of attractions for visitors, such as the Llanberis Lake Railway and the Electric Mountain hydroelectric power station visitor centre.

However, the most depressing and menacing property seen in the series is the remote cottage surrounded by dark woodland occupied by suspect Dylan Harris (Rhodri Meilir) and his mother Iona (Gillian Elisa).  The house was actually purpose-built for the series and its location is a secret, however Dylan’s workplace was filmed at the Llechwedd Slate Caverns. The cafe where Dylan meets an almost-victim is Eric Jones Cafe and Campsite outside Tremadog in real life.

Llechwedd Slate Caverns 002. Photo by Matěj Baťha, via Wikimedia Commons.

LEWIS CARROLL'S WELSH WONDERLAND: LLANDUDNO

In the latter part of the 19^th century a little girl called Alice Liddell used to visit the Welsh resort of Llandudno, staying at the family holiday home Penmorfa on the town’s West Shore.  Like any young girl, Alice had her share of adventures while on holiday in the town.  The writer Lewis Carroll was a close friend of the Liddell family, and although he reputedly never met Alice there, he got wind of Alice’s holiday exploits and used them as the basis for a story which he recounted to Alice and her sisters on a rowing trip.  And so the famous children’s novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland came into being, followed by the sequel Through  The Looking Glass.



Llandudno has not forgotten its association with Lewis Carroll and Alice, and commemorates it in a number of ways, including a a town trail.  There is a statue of the White Rabbit character on the West Shore, and also just off the West Shore there are two big rocks which are said to represent the Walrus and the Carpenter from Through The Looking Glass.  Unfortunately, fans visiting the town will not be able to see Penmorfa.  After a few years as a hotel, in 2008 the building was demolished as it was deemed to be  unsafe.

Alice in Wonderland - geograph.org.uk - 580510. Photo by Steve F, via Wikimedia Commons

Llandudno is a typical seaside resort, with its long promenade and pier and its array of restaurants and shops, but what makes it stand out from other similar resorts is its position at the foot of the mighty Great Orme, a mountain which can be reached by tramway or cable car or, for the energetic, on foot.  There is a bar and restaurant at the top and the views out to sea are stupendous, only marred by the ‘forest’ of wind turbines on the horizon.  The sheep to be found on the mountain have been joined by 122 wild Kashmiri goats, who made the news recently when they headed down to the town during bad weather, stopping the traffic, nibbling plants in people’s gardens and generally causing chaos.

The Great Orme, from the Promenade.

Map of the area.