Portmeirion, UK

Colour, colour and more colour. The mish-mash of architectural styles and painted stucco in the whimsical village is the image we most associate with Portmeirion – gothic meets Baroque meets Renaissance, a jumble that somehow evokes the Italian Riviera more than North Wales in March. But this place is all about escape – or rather, escapism. And the air of exoticism isn’t just confined to the architecture – it carries on into the woodland, the Gwyllt, a temperate rainforest crammed with all the treasures of the Himalayas, the Andes and the Antipodes. Not to mention one of the finest camellia collections in the land – at their absolute peak when I visited. A memorable experience.