When sisters Siobhan and Caitriona Peyton opened the Mill — a thick-walled, low-doored structure built in 1757 — on the Wensum in July 2021, their ambition was for it to be a boutique hotel, gastro pub, cocktail joint and local boozer. And they’ve pulled it off. On a busy weekend the upstairs dining room and downstairs bar entertain a happy crowd of NFNs (normal for Norfolk) and DFLs (down from London), drinking Barsham ales or Norfolk negronis; eating sausage rolls, oysters, buttermilk waffles or nine-hour venison shoulder with chipotle and mac‘n’cheese. Out back, there’s a garden with a river running through it and lawns where people dance to DJs in the summer — and there’s the Grizzly grill for barbecues. On the top floors are seven bordello bedrooms done out in yellow, green and blue to match the farmland and skies of what has suddenly become a highly fashionable corner of rural north Norfolk.
Overall score 8/10
Main photo: a sunny day at Sculthorpe Mill (Sam Scott-Hunter)
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Rooms and suites
Score 9/10
There are just seven rooms here, of varying shapes and sizes. Room One, in the eaves, with a double and a sofa bed, can accommodate a family of four. Rooms Five and Six are the cheapest and the smallest, with garden views, while rooms Two and Four are bigger, with river views. Room Seven lets you gaze on the Wensum without getting out of bed, but room Three — the priciest — is the biggest and best, with views of the millpond. All are exercises in seduction by designers Shaun Clarkson and Paul Brewster, with yellow floors, green wainscoting, blue walls and glam bathrooms.
Food and drink
Score 8/10
The Peyton sisters, who with brother Oliver have run restaurants such as the Atlantic Bar and Grill, Mash and the National Dining Rooms at the National Gallery, insist you can have what you like, where you like. So if you’d prefer to share your whole roast Gressingham duck while perched at the bar with a pint, rock on. You can expect the unexpected from the chef Elliot Ketley, formerly of Soho House and Coast, with dishes such as a buttermilk waffle with sauteed girolles, and chanterelles with a poached egg and sauce diablo. Don’t rely on the menu though: Ketley cooks what his sources bring him, so always ask about the specials. Wines are similarly whimsical, with a list starting at £23 that specialises in small producers from lesser-known regions. Breakfast, as you’d expect, is a showcase for local pork products, backed up with fresh viennoiseries and strong coffee.
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What else is there?
Score 7/10
Fakenham race course is just up the road and the Hawk and Owl Trust’s Sculthorpe Moor Nature Reserve is next door. The beaches of north Norfolk are 20 minutes’ drive away on a good day and 18th-century mansion Houghton Hall is eight miles down the A148.
Where is it?
Score 8/10
It’s an hour from Norwich; two from Cambridge; and three from Islington. Fakenham racecourse is four miles southeast; Wells-next-the Sea ten miles north; and Sandringham 15 miles west.
Chris Haslam was a guest of Sculthorpe Mill
Price B&B doubles from £110
Restaurant mains from £18
Family-friendly Y
Dog-friendly Y
Accessible N
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