Morston Hall

Birdwatchers and bon vivants beat a path to Tracy and Galton Blackiston’s Michelin-starred restaurant-with-rooms in a flint farmhouse with Blakeney nature reserve on the doorstep. You can walk through the big, flat, beautiful, faintly melancholic salt-marsh moonscape to Morston Quay, take a boat trip to see seals and return for afternoon tea in the sun lounge. It might be Michelin starred, but it is a ‘friendly, comfortable place’. House bedrooms, named after Norfolk stately homes, have a contemporary country-house look. Felbrigg has a balcony, windows overlooking the front and the herb garden at the side. Spacious garden pavilion suites have a lounge area and patio, a bath and shower. Almost all rooms are pet-friendly. At night, canapés are served in the lounge or in the lavender-scented garden, before a seven-course tasting menu of home-grown and locally sourced produce – which might feature Cromer crab ravioli, Norfolk poussin with peas and garden mint, and apricot and white chocolate tart. At breakfast there is locally smoked fish, smashed avocado on sourdough, a full English with boudin noir and kidneys. ‘The attention to detail was sublime.’ (JC)