Fritton House has a cheerful, lived-in feel. With just nine rooms, a brasserie, a smallish sitting room and a private dining room, it really does feel as if you’ve walked into someone’s house. The sitting room has an open fire, newspapers scattered on chairs, family photographs (of the Somerleytons, who own the hotel and the Norfolk estate in which it is set), knickknacks and board games. It’s cosy and traditional without going OTT on chintz and overstuffed armchairs.

Our room wasn’t huge, but it was light and pleasant, with good-quality furnishings and supremely comfortable beds. Storage was adequate, even if it was little more than a rail in a walk-in dressing room. Our bathroom was small and had no window, but the shower (there was no bath) was super, with pretty mosaic tiles and a powerful showerhead.

Best of all were the individual touches — there are striking photographs and lovely drawings on the walls, and the private dining room, with its joyful cerise and gold wallpaper (trust me, it was gorgeous), looked like a jazzy, brightly decorated birthday card: perfect for celebrations.

The hotel is set in a country park, which has lots of attractions for children, and therein lies a warning: Fritton House is popular with families, but its small size means that it is difficult to avoid the noise made by children scurrying about, playing and, er, throwing tantrums.

There was one low point on Saturday afternoon when we wanted to sink into the sittingroom sofas to read the papers. But the noise from the brasserie up the corridor was impossible to ignore, with a televised rugby match in full swing, and a toddler crying loudly for a good hour.

Fortunately, the evening was quieter, and our meal in the brasserie, which looks and feels like a gastro-pub, was very good: well-cooked, using local ingredients. Our drinks and meal were served with the warmest of smiles. Champagne was £6 a glass, so we had double rounds of aperitifs, and made do with a decent Chilean white wine by the glass with our meal.

Breakfast in the morning was marvellous: toast and jams, bacon and eggs, fantastic porridge, cereals, fruit, yoghurt and so on. We ate enough to last us the day.

So, chic boutique or friendly, kick-your-shoes-off, family get-away? Fritton’s slick website, with sexy photographs, shows that it aspires to be the former; the reality is indisputably the latter. Something tells me that this hotel needs to decide what it wants to be before it can achieve its potential.

Bottom line: Kate Quill paid £135 for a twin room, including breakfast.

Sampling the fare: Dinner for two was about £60, with wine.

Best thing: Cheerful staff.

Worst thing: Noisy children.

Access all areas: Restaurant only.

Need to know: Fritton House (01493 484008, www.frittonhouse.co.uk), Church Lane, Fritton, Norfolk.

Room: 6 out of 10.

Food: 6.5 out of 10.

Service: 8 out of 10.

Value: 6.5 out of 10.

Times recommends

• Win a Zeppelin flight over London
• A first timer's guide to... Morocco
• The budget guide to the French Riviera