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.
Please....Don't you want to get away from all that London competion! Life is v simple in South Devon. Surely that is the fundemental part of the appeal! Forget the rat race, live free, have fun! The food may not be up to London standards, but it is fresh, real and wholesome. Is that not really why you are coming to the South Hams in the first place.?You are totally missing the point of why you should be coming to the South Hams.
Caroline Anniss, Calne, Wiltshire
How can your review of Essex be just 2 hotels! (not restaurants with rooms) and not include the Starr at Great Dunmow? A superb restaurant, probably the best in Essex.
the kitchen produces consistantly good food it is well presented and has a front of house team that cares. rooms are very comfortable and furnished with taste
Derek Pearson, Fakenham, Norfolk
We have been in the Fritton House Hotel brasserie probably 20 times at various hours of the day, morning coffee, lunch and afternoon tea, but we have never experienced crying toddlers such as described in your review - we have always had a really great time. As that was the only negative, apart from the television (which had never been on on our visits), we felt your scorings were just a little on the mean side considering the quality of the food, the pleasantness of all the staff and the leisurely atmosphere in which to dine.
Christine & John Jones, Colchester, UK