09/01/2008 05:43:12
Campaigners are fighting to save an ex-hotel in Wales once regularly visited by Alice Liddel, the child thought to have inspired Alice in Wonderland.
Pen Morfa in Llandudno was the seaside holiday home of the Liddel family, who owned the building from its construction 1861 until 1873. Over subsequent years it has been substantially extended and converted into a 37-bed hotel, which was closed and sold to developers in 2006.
The original plan had been to preserve the link with Alice while converting the hotel into luxury flats. However, BBC News reports that developers Anwyl consider restoring the original house "unrealistic", and now wish to demolish what remains.
John Lawson-Reay, chairman of the Llandudno Seaside Buildings Preservation Trust, told the BBC that he had not been happy with the original plans, but that demolishing the building would be "awful".
"Even without the architecture the building has an historical significance as it is the only connection the town has with Alice Liddell," he said.
"She came here for several months at a time with her family for several years, and important people such as William Gladstone, who became prime minister, and philanthropist William Wilberforce visited the family."