The main reason to spend a weekend at Morston Hall is the food. This small country house hotel is in Holt, north Norfolk, a tiny village - literally just a pub, a couple of houses (one of which has local mussels for sale on a table outside the front door) and the hotel.
But the regulars who frequent Morston Hall are there for one thing only: to sample the culinary delights of its chef and owner, Galton Blackiston. This is not so much a hotel as a posh restaurant with rooms. I use the word posh because dinner at Morston Hall is a formal affair. Don't (as we did) turn up with a bag full of warm clothes for slopping about on country walks. As this paper's 'style editor' I should have been prepared, but found myself staring with horror at two choices of footwear: a pair of trainers and a pair of muddy Birkenstock clogs. My partner, Mark, had only one jacket. A denim one.
A set dinner is included in the room rate, and guests are requested to assemble for an aperitif in one of the two receptions (chintzy but tasteful and cosy, with log fire and comfy, worn-in seats) at 7.30pm. Dinner is served at eight.
Glugging an expertly mixed gin and tonic, we perused the wine list, and opted for the £17 house white. It would be rude not to take the chef's choice, we thought. Meanwhile, everyone else proceeded to order a bottle of something altogether more expensive. If you are a wine snob, you will be in paradise.
Dinner was a masterclass in classic, well-executed cooking. Cheddar soufflé, followed by scallops, a vegetarian option of mushroom risotto, and then a choice of blood orange sorbet or a cheese plate. Afterwards, the chef did a round of the tables, stopping to discuss the finer details of etuvee cabbage with his guests.
The hotel is run by Galton and his wife, Tracy. The rooms are very comfortable. Each is named after Norfolk stately homes, and the interiors are English country house, with fluffy beds, television and tea-making facilities. Bathrooms have a thick carpet (surely tiles are more hygienic), thick-ish towels, bathrobes, and - a hotel first for me - a choice of two toilet papers, hard and soft.
Breakfast, like dinner, is served with military precision. You can order porridge the night before, and it is slow-cooked overnight, or kippers. All very tempting, but cooked breakfast is only served between 8.30 and 9am in the dining room and continental can be brought to the room till 9.30 which makes it all seem more of a dawn raid than a leisurely brunch.
· Morston Hall, Morston, Holt, Norfolk (01263 741041) £95 to £110 per person, including dinner and breakfast.
