Cranmer Cottages - Swallow Cottage

John and I moved from cosmopolitan Islington to this wonderful peaceful backwater in 1998. John had family ties with North Norfolk along with many happy memories of childhood holidays here and we wanted to bring up our daughter in a greener and more relaxed environment.

Over the past 11 years we have lovingly restored what was a dilapidated farmhouse with a pile of ramshackle barns into award-winning luxury eco-cottages, preserving many of the historic features and recycling original materials along the way. With the recent acquisition of the surrounding 168 acres of farmland and Natural England’s Higher Level Stewardship scheme we are revitalising the landscape too.

We had very little experience of the tourism business when we first opened: I trained at the Royal college of Art as a fashion designer and John is a specialist lighting consultant lighting art galleries around the world. Our backgrounds have bought a unique edge to our business and certainly John’s engineering skills have been essential in developing our unique combination of renewable energy technologies at Home Farm.

We never seek to impose ourselves on our visitors but we are available to offer first hand experience of discovering the best places to visit and experience. We deliver discreet and friendly service and someone is usually on hand to deal with life’s little emergencies. We constantly look for ways to surpass expectations whether it is in supplying baby friendly extras or locally produced food delivered to your door. We focus on high quality with a strong green ethos as part of our sustainable lifestyle strategy. We aim to deliver a memorable Norfolk holiday experience for all who visit and offer somewhere great to stay.

Lynne Johnson

We have a passion for boating so Norfolk really comes alive for us from April once the sailing season begins. However we also love the wide open sandy beaches and sultry marshland walks in the winter months. We were not birdwatchers before we settled here but with all of our hedgerow and tree planting we are continuing to notice a myriad of new visitors to the fields and gardens. Other favourite things include the wonderful autumnal tree walks held at Blicking Hall and Sherringham Park. A picnic on Holkham beach is pretty hard to beat but the excitement of horse racing at Fakenham has also provided a number of memorable days out with friends. Pensthorpe and Sculthorpe Moor are also favourite haunt - I could go on and on, best to come and see for yourself.

What’s not to love; miles of golden sand, empty beaches, steam railways in the image of the Thomas books, Boggle and friends and Bewilderwood, Bug trails and pond dipping at Pensthorpe, bike riding through Holkham deer park and Blickling Hall gardens. Our daughter Emily is now rather too grown up for these things and far too cool, however she will admit to enjoying a visit to Pensthorpe and of course a beach picnic with friends on Scolt head island which is such a hip place to hang out in the summer months. Crab racing down the slip way at Burnham Overy makes hauling out sailing boats at the end of the tide a perilous affair, but local families have enjoyed the pastime over many generations. A recent 4 year old niece’s birthday party in a beach hut at Wells was great fun, even if it did rain briefly. Ferry trips and seal spotting is a fantastic way to see the coast on a good day but a walk with bucket and spade and a picnic from one of the delis in Burnham Market or Wells is pretty unbeatable too.