Vauxhall fully charged for new models

VAUXHALL is to embark on an electric-focused technology drive, which it says will transform its range over the next two years at a similar rate to its first heady days as a car manufacturer at the start of the last century.

Two all-new models – next-generation versions of the Mokka X SUV and Vivaro van – will be fully electrified, and go in to production in 2020. Both vehicles have been sales hits for the Luton company in their current generations, with the Mokka X, pictured right, still making regular appearances in the UK’s top-ten bestsellers the exotic flora and fauna that Clough had planted, the views he had created and the wild perspectives afforded by the architectural trompes d’oeil.

Some of The Beatles Anthology was filmed here just before Epstein’s last visit, with George Martin in the summer of ‘66. Harrison himself celebrated his 50th birthday in the hotel’s Peacock Suite in 1993, having been dissuaded from taking Watch House cottage by his security men who feared he might have tottered over the low wall to his death on the rocks below.

We strolled around the grounds of the Portmeirion hotel and had afternoon tea in the conservatory overlooking the estuary of the River Dwyryd. The hotel is like a Cunard liner, all elegant lines and fine marquetry.

Portmeirion is a truly enchanted spot, the genius of which is to capture the quintessence of the Mediterranean in a corner of North Wales. One also has the impression of being in a much bigger and bustling town. But it is, as The Prisoner so marvellously conveys, a bit of an illusion.

You have to pay to visit and staying overnight is enough to discourage basement bargain hunters. “It was always meant to be exclusive and has somehow succeeded in this,” said Meurig.

We drove back to the Midlands through the heart of Snowdonia, passing the furnicular train that goes to the teashop at the summit. I remember great uncle Frank, kitted out like Sir Edmund Hillary, boarding the train with an ice cream in one hand and Readers Digest in the other.

I think my dear old dad would have enjoyed this splendid excursion to his beloved Snowdonia.