Pool, gardens and grounds
The old yews and oaks bend in the breeze that trickles over the horizon. The lawn slopes gently away from the house, ready for cricket, croquet or kids’ cartwheels. One hundred acres of English greenery span out before you, then merge seamlessly with the flint cottages, stout churches and large skies.
But the scene-stealer here is the pool. Heated to 30 degrees, it beckons you with its crystal blue. Splash away a summer’s day, laze back on a sunbed, or steal the hammock and top up your cocktails. Get the barbie sizzling and linger over a long lunch out on the terrace under the parasol.
Keep the kids happy with the swing and the children’s play area. Keep exploring, past sheep and lambs, to find three en-suite luxury shepherd huts that you can hire with the hall. Go further to discover the hall’s very own deserted village. There’s a surprise around every corner at Burghwood Hall.
Living spaces
Kick off your shoes, pour yourself a drink and chill for England in Burghwood Hall’s sumptuous living spaces. Stoke up the sitting-room fire, sink back in the classy upholstery and dream awhile.
Bold colours and tartans fill the spaces; candles illuminate your evenings and the flickering of the open fire casts long shadows on the wall. Fill the spaces, catch a movie, play some cards, enjoy each other’s company.
Elsewhere, there’s a piano to play and a games room where you can shoot some snooker, take each other on at table football or just dig out the board games. Keep the kids up past bedtime, keep your glass topped up, keep the good times rolling.
Cooking and dining
This is an area with a flavour all of its own. Maybe you’ll be inspired to incorporate Cromer crabs, samphire, Brancaster mussels, Stiffkey cockles, Mrs Temple’s cheeses, Godwick turkeys, pheasant or partridge into your dishes? Then wash it down with The Norfolk Brewhouse’s finest?
The facilities are here. The kitchen comes with Aga, electric oven and hob. If it’s a special occasion, leave it to us. We’ll light the candles and whet your wheels with all that’s best of local, seasonal produce, while you hone your appetite with nuts and seeds and a little liquid sharpener. Or just order a delicious ‘drop-off’.
Dine in Georgian splendour in the dining room – seating 20 – or get together on the terrace and finish off with a dip in the pool. Eating out? Try The Dabbling Duck, in Great Massingham for Norfolk ribeye or black banger sausages, or a full English from The Lifeboat Inn in Thornham.
Kids will love The King’s Head at Letheringsett, The Jolly Sailors at Brancaster Staithe or just scampi and chips and the chance to build their own sundae from Eric’s Fish and Chips in Thornham. For a Michelin-starred extravaganza, the tasting menu at The Neptune looks irresistible.
Bedrooms
Sleeping 14, Burghwood Hall’s hotel-like seven bedrooms offer a luxurious charm, melding traditional features with modern touches and capping it all with deep mattresses and soft-cotton bedding.
Move fast to grab the four-poster master with freestanding, rolltop bath by the bed. But there’s no hardship if you miss out. All rooms come with rolling rural views, king or superking beds, and en-suite shower facilities. Two rooms are zip-and-link, for family flexibility, and two others have baths as well.
For guest-fests, two camp beds are available, while six more can be accommodated in languorous luxury in three beautifully appointed shepherds’ huts on site.
Children welcome
Burghwood Hall is a children’s playground of rolling acres ripe for cricket, croquet and good old hide-and seek. To put on your wellies and find sheep and lambs, to kick a football around and to discover amazing sights, like a long-deserted village.
But the main attraction here is the pool. Heated to 30 degrees, it’s as welcoming as a cool drink on a hot summer’s day. Watch the kids dive and splash as their skin goes wrinkly and hours disappear in the country air.
Dry off and the children’s play area, with swing and trampoline, beckons. Back inside, there’s snooker or table football to play in the games room. Or maybe make it a movie or games night? Activities at Burghwood Hall are as plentiful as the magical memories.
What people say
Twiggles, boggles and breweries
A cornucopia of kids’ delights includes the Sea Life Centre in Hunstanton, a choice of zoos, the unique Garratt locomotive "Norfolk Hero" at Wells, or Bewilderwood for twiggles, boggles and zipwires. Grown-ups can plunder the National Trust, potter the local market towns, bag some beer at a brewery, explore the famous Holkham Estate or back a horse at Fakenham.
