The Crown
Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk
Good Hotel Guide Review
‘A former coaching inn overlooking a tree-lined oval green’ is today ‘a welcoming, warm, laid-back pub and hotel’. Alerted to it by a reader (‘all four of us loved it’), our inspectors checked in and were shown to a suite in a converted barn, ‘through an archway, down a sweet little lane’. It had a super-king bed with kids’ beds on a mezzanine, a coffee machine, ‘exposed-stone wall, pretty, glass-domed lights, prints and etchings’, a bath and power shower. An accessible room in old living quarters has a four-poster, an espresso machine, a wet-room shower, a copper bath on a decked patio. ‘The main building is a warren of rooms with flagstone floors, bar, dining areas, slouchy sofa areas and crannies.’ Chef/proprietor Chris Coubrough was ‘working hard alongside his staff, chatting to guests and regulars’. A short, good menu brought Brancaster rock oysters with lemon and tabasco, fishcakes, grilled goat’s cheese on walnut and caramelised shallot couscous. At breakfast, ‘freshly squeezed orange juice and a full English to last you the day’ were served by ‘young, friendly, fleet staff – a lovely team’. (Karen Hillier, and others)
Hotel details
Address
The Buttlands
Wells-next-the-Sea
Norfolk
NR23 1EX
England
Telephone
01328 710209
Bedrooms
20. 5 in annexe, 2 in barn, 3 on ground floor, 1 suitable for wheelchair-user (wet-room shower, terrace).
Open
all year.
Facilities
bar, 3 dining rooms, terrace, in-room TV, parking, orangery wheelchair accessible, adapted toilet.
Background music
none.
Children
all ages welcomed, extra bed £35.
Dogs
allowed in most bedrooms (£10 per night), some public rooms.
Credit cards
Amex, MC, Visa.
Prices
B&B doubles from £150, singles from £125. À la carte £35.
Information from the 2022 Good Hotel Guide.