Estate secrets
Escape to the shores of North Norfolk and a countryside idyll for a truly relaxing break
When you and your husband both work from home it’s good to swap your four walls for something different. And a stunning 18th century hall in a sprawling estate will do nicely, thank you.
Our country escape saw us heading to the beaches of North Norfolk and the grounds of 18th century Holkham Hall.
Our accommodation for three nights was to be the Palmers Folly, an exclusive couples’ retreat on the estate, and our entrance was as stately as Holkham itself.
You arrive through an archway on to the estate and travel deep into woodland for a good mile or so before reaching the cottage.
GRAND
As we drove along, herds of deer parted to make way for our car, which felt quite special as the late afternoon sunlight streamed through the trees.
The Folly itself manages to feel grand in a bijou space, with a wood burner, a king-size bed and huge sash windows. And however hard we tried, all we could hear was the call of a pheasant or two.
A couple of miles from Holkham is the seaside town of Wells-next-thesea, where we went by taxi for our first evening meal at boutique hotel The Crown.
Here, the emphasis is on locally sourced food and drinks, so I started with a Norfolk gin with a sparkling raspberry Fentimans – the perfect welcome.
To eat, I tried the baked goat’s cheese with a hazelnut crust and roast beetroot salad, followed by the stunning roast fillet of cod on risotto.
The highlight for me was the tempura soft-shell crab that lay over the cod – truly good.
The Crown’s amiable owner Chris is also chairman of North Norfolk’s Food & Drink Festival, so clearly knows his stuff.
The next day was spent exploring the estate, with a trip to the wonderful walled garden and the Field to Fork experience. The walled garden has rows and rows of fresh produce, which the estate proudly uses in its meals, and we dawdled there so long we had to jump in a golf buggy to get back in time for the Field to Fork experience.
Here we learned that sugarbeet grown on site is sent to British Sugar to be turned into Silver Spoon, and that Holkham grows a barley called Flagon which produces malt for beer, particularly for Suffolk brewers Adnams, which has a shop on site.
After a cake stop at the Courtyard Café, we walked back to the Folly to freshen up before our meal at the Victoria Inn across the road from Holkham beach. I kicked things off with scallops, black pudding, bacon and apple, then polished off the cut of the day – a juicy sirloin steak with chips and peppercorn sauce.
The flourless chocolate torte to finish was a plate of gooey heaven.
The next day we attempted to burn off the gluttony with a walk from Wells down to the beach adorned with colourful huts. Despite the breeze, it was packed with people making the trip along the shoreline from Wells and back to Holkham.
Our last night was spent chilling in the Folly with only pheasants and the odd hare for company. Sitting outside at the picnic table as the sky turned dark was really quite special.
Holkham, we salute you!