Strattons
Walk up a narrow lane between a kebab shop and a barber’s in this market town, on a sunny afternoon, and you may be surprised to find people enjoying tea on the lawn in front of a Palladian villa. More
Good Hotel Guide Review
Walk up a narrow lane between a kebab shop and a barber’s in this market town, on a sunny afternoon, and you may be surprised to find people enjoying tea on the lawn in front of a Palladian villa. Strattons is full of surprises, combining a hotel with a deli, restaurant and housewares shop. ‘The hotel has charm.’ The outré tastes of owners Les and Vanessa Scott are everywhere in evidence. Your bedroom might have a Jacobean four-poster, a freestanding copper bath, a jungle mural or mermaid mosaic, a chandelier or bowler-hat lampshades. Breakfast, including home-made sausages, kedgeree and ‘perfect’ poached eggs, is served in CoCoes deli, ‘an accomplished place with a happy, bustly feeling’ at the hotel gate. Throughout the day there are quiches, tapas, legendarily good fishcakes, ‘generous’ salads and home-baked cakes. New this year is Afterfive restaurant, launched by Vanessa Scott with chef Julia Heatherton, drawing on local specialist suppliers for such dishes as kiln-roast salmon risotto, ox cheek with bacon and sage, or ‘mega salad’. Take care when you sit down in the lounge lest you extinguish one of the house cats.
Hotel details
Address
4 Ash Close
Swaffham
Norfolk
PE37 7NH
England
Telephone
01760 723845
Bedrooms
14. 6 in annexes, 1 on ground floor (via entrance steps).
Open
all year except 1 week at Christmas.
Facilities
drawing room, reading room, restaurant, in-room TV (Freeview), terrace, café/deli, 1-acre garden, café wheelchair accessible.
Background music
all day in public areas.
Children
all ages welcomed.
Dogs
allowed in some bedrooms (£10 per day), lounges, not in restaurant.
Credit cards
Amex, MC, Visa.
Prices
per room B&B single £99–£234, double £159–£256. À la carte £30. 1-night bookings refused weekends, 3-night min. bank holidays.
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