Hospitality

Offering private and exclusive hire, Somerleyton Hall has long been a popular choice for mid-sized group celebrations, weddings and corporate retreats. A team of expert butlers and household staff compliment the hospitality that flows naturally from Hugh & Lara Somerleyton. Whilst not a hotel, Somerleyton guests are made to feel at home.

The Hall has been used as a setting for many television shows and films including Stephen Poliakoff’s The Lost Prince and Netflix’s hit series The Crown, where it was used to depict the Royal Norfolk residence, Sandringham which shares much of the same architecture.

Accommodation

Somerleyton Hall has twelve bedrooms that are full of character and charm, ten of which are en-suite. Each has been lovingly designed and comes with its own personality. Expect four poster beds, roll top claw foot baths, ornate furnishings, and spectacular views across the grounds.

Additional accommodation is available on the Estate, in the new Koto cabins, farmhouses and the eight stylish Clubhouse rooms at Fritton Lake.

The configuration of the house provides privacy with individual bedrooms as well as a series of inviting communal spaces, both inside and out. There’s an array of spaces to enjoy within the Hall.

Food

As with everything at Somerleyton, provenance and sustainability is key. The chefs only use ingredients foraged, grown or sourced from the estate, produce from carefully selected local suppliers and fresh fish brought to shore just a few miles away.

Within the Hall, dining locations include the candlelit ballroom, the splendour of the old palm house, the intimacy of the family dining room as well as the full length and fabulous Winter Garden.

There is also a beautiful al fresco terrace at Fritton Lake’s Clubhouse restaurant, which offers seasonal menus that make the most of estate grown or locally sourced ingredients.

Activities

The centrepiece of the Somerleyton Estate is the two-mile-long Fritton Lake. This beautiful stretch of open water is perfect for all kinds of water-based activities including:

• Wild swimming
• Paddle-boarding
• Canoeing
• Koto floating sauna
• Guided Jeep and Lake Safaris through Somerleyton’s pioneering conservation project. Guests can explore 1,000 acres of land given over to nature
• Guided hikes and foraging walks with Somerleyton’s experienced guides, to find the best plants, herbs and mushrooms which can be used in that evening’s meal

There is also a 22m outdoor heated pool, nature-inspired gym, all-weather tennis courts, group fitness classes and woodland that’s perfect for walking, cycling and trail running.

For a more immersive experience to learn about biodiversity and our fragile ecosystems, there’s walking, water and jeep nature safaris. In the warmer months it’s possible to forage for dinner and eat out in the wild, while spotting free roaming red and fallow deer, Highland cattle, water buffalo, pigs and Exmoor ponies.

For over three hundred years the magical Somerleyton gardens have been considered some of the finest in the region. Highlights include:

• Enchanting yew hedge maze
• Great equatorial sundial, encircled by the signs of the zodiac
• The Jungle Garden

Traditional countryside pursuits such as riding and shooting are also possible. There are several stables available, so horse owners are welcome to bring their equine companions or the leisure team can organise horses to explore the local area from the saddle.

A conservation project to return over 1,000 acres of farmland to the wild

Since 2017 Somerleyton has been carefully managing the return of vast swathes of estate land to sustainable wildland. What was once a patchwork of farmed fields is now a nature restoration project roamed by deer, cattle, water buffalo, sheep and ponies. Dozens of bird species make their home here, and rare plants and shrubs thrive once more.

Commercial farming enables the estate to invest in nature restoration, but it has to be regenerative, putting back more into the soil than we take out. Similarly, the species that have been reintroduced, whether wild or farmed, are essential to eco-restoration. Their actions and natural behaviours are perfect for reshaping the land back to the way nature intended it while providing an abundance of high-quality locally sourced produce for use in the kitchens.

Guests can experience first-hand how the landscape is transforming and reshaping allowing nature to recover and thrive.