We were plodding up the hill to a slate quarry (See my last post) when a neat cottage came into view. Painted white and very cleanly turned out, it was obviously much loved. But it was the garden that grabbed and held our attention. Incredibly, it contained a miniature Italian landscape, with a flavour of Portmeirion- only more intense, more concentrated. In contrast to the house, the garden was slightly down at heel. The structures were weathering and crumbling, although the grounds around them were kept neat, the grass trimmed. The garden that the locals call "Little Italy" was originally the creation of the late Mark Bourne, a retired holiday camp owner. He'd visited Italy and had fallen in love with the architecture, trying to re-create the ambience in his garden. Using his holiday snaps, he achieved something far beyond a folly- an artwork that incorporates bits of Welsh history and evocations of Italianate fancy, sitting alongside collections of bricks and industrial artefacts. Somehow it works, wonderfully. Each of the structures appears to be built from concrete, over a wire armature. According to one local, when the buildings were made in the seventies, they would take between four and six weeks to construct. I imagined that there must have been moulds and shuttering to make, as the details are too fine to sculpt out repetitively. Mr Bourne was obviously a master of concrete art. There are also plaques, possibly carved in slate by him, dedicating some of the displays to folk who had presented bits of rock, or tile. It seems that collections of bricks were donated too; just finding all those would be a life's work. The whole site feels like a labour of love, a votive offering to somewhere Mr Bourne loved deeply. I quote Tim Dunn's description in his Flickr album, for I couldn't put it better: "Here was a setting so beautiful, so idyllic, and so lovingly crafted, that it goes beyond a museum of random artefacts; beyond a modelmaker's skilful recreation of full-size prototypes. Little Italy was created to share the beauty of art with other people and to enhance the lives of everyone." Tim is a connoiseur and expert on the subject of miniature villages- his Flickr collection of images of "Little Italy" (here) is fascinating, especially since the shots were taken in 2007. The place has changed hands a couple of times since the original builder died, but it's still doing what he intended. The present owner runs it as a succesful AirB&B but has sensitively left the garden alone. I imagine that curating and conserving it would be beyond the ability of most folk, even if they had the time. But I feel that as it weathers, the garden will change, become more intriguing, a little wonder along an unremarkable Corris back lane. We returned to the place after our first visit, hoping to get better light. There were some other folk wandering about, clearly fascinated, trying to get a handle on what it was all about. Mr Bourne would be delighted to know that people were still enjoying his little slice of italy in Wales.
9 Comments
Iain Robinson
20/10/2018 05:28:05 pm
Thanks, Graham, definitely one of the many wonders of Corris!
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victoria carmichael
22/10/2018 08:14:52 pm
Hello Iain, that was certainly an interesting read and a good find. Isn't it amazing how people with a passion will go to extraordinary lengths to build or produce something that it just stands the test of time.
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30/10/2018 06:42:17 pm
Thanks very much, Victoria- the link you sent was amazing, I would love to see that place. It seems as if it was made in the same spirit as Portmeirion over here- heartwarming that folk have these impulses to make things that will outlast them, things that make people happy and don't eat up resources. Like Clough Williams Ellis, it was done for no profit, too- amazing.
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laura
9/12/2018 04:06:00 am
This is an incredibly fascinating and wonderful place. A bit bizarre, but even more entrancing because of the unusual location and mind-blowing detail. "Evocations of Italianate fancy" just makes me giddy. I suppose with your previous model-making you have a pretty good idea of the amount of work involved in accomplishing each of the buildings... I love that he incorporated various types of bricks in a showcase style as a nod to local history. It turns the whole feat into more of a wonderland rather than strictly cold-blooded, by-the-book replica. You did an admirable job yourself in writing this up. It's not sappy and fanciful "Oh, you must come look at this charming and unique..." and not droll "He utilized local material in his attempt to create..." but you found a middle-ground that extols the virtues by uniting historical fact with admiration. I guess it shouldn't be a surprise; you always seem to provide excellent and meaningful write-ups, but this was a different sort of place that most people would have extolled way too long and in a sickeningly-sweet direction! (Gosh, if I was to write about this place I'm afraid I would have used way too many "slammers!" ;) So, good job! Very readable, informative, and makes me feel better for the world for knowing what Mark Bourne did to beautify the planet and that you took the time to let us know.
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9/12/2018 05:19:36 pm
Thank you so much, Laura. That was extremely kind and rather perceptive of you to see into my writing style...I appreciate it! I didn't want to go overboard, although the place did have a huge effect on both of us. I had an idea, as you say, about the work involved in constructing the place- and the bricks just made it sing, even though on face value they seem a bit incongruous. Yes, Mark Bourne did us all a service, I hope he knew that...he made a small plot of sunshine all year round in gloomy Corris!
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26/1/2019 09:31:58 am
Thank you Nial, I am so pleased that you enjoyed the site and that it gave you enough inspiration to go and see for yourself :-) I love to hear that. I've plenty more pests coming up, and there's also my old blog which has all the stuyff about Dorothea...must get round to putting that up here soon. Thanks again :-)
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