The Old Rectory Cottage

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Apartment |2 bedrooms |Sleeps 4

Scoulton in Hingham, Norfolk

From £240 per week

Short stays welcome

Changeover flexible

4 out of 5

1 review | Write a review

Key info  Car essential, no pets allowed

About the home

A lovely 2 bedroom property set in a quiet rural area in the heart of Norfolk, benefiting from local ameneties such as Thetford forest, excellent horse riding, fishing, golfing and cycling opportunities. It is marked on the Ordnance Survey Map Explorer 237 grid 985001.

Cosy, clean, modernised Victorian annexe to a Grade II listed Old Rectory, dating back to William and Mary. Two acres of lovely informal grounds, set deep in rural Norfolk.

FREE WiFi access too!

To book please telephone: 01953851371/ 07825291959.

Facilities

Further details indoors:
One double bed can separate to make two singles for children.

Further details outdoors:
The grounds to the property extend to 2 acres and you share these with the Rectory owners. A barbecue is available, badminton, and a large, safety-netted trampoline. There is a large pond, bordering to be a lake, which has natural fish and 2 sunbathing turtles that were released 20 years ago! In the summer grass snakes can be seen swimming across or hiding in the grass, and very rarely, a beautiful iridescent blue kingfisher can be spotted.

The pond is DEEP and children will need to be supervised around it.

The view from all the rooms is quintessentially English: sheep gambolling in an adjacent field...wheat ripening under a summer sun.

The skies are big and dark - astronomy enthusiasts are welcome and the owner owns several scopes and is delighted to demonstrate to guests.

Photos

 

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The Grounds

 

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Master Bedroom

 

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Sitting Room

 

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Kitchen Diner Area

The East Anglia / Norfolk region

Famous region noted for the countryside, forests, broadlands and big, sandy, uncrowded beaches. One of only a handful of counties remaining not to be cursed with any motorways. There are magnificent stately homes and National Trust properties and gardens to visit.

The Hingham, Norfolk / Scoulton area

The Old Rectory Cottage is surrounded by the farmland of Norfolk's best kept secret - bucolic Breckland.

There are walks and cycle rides aplenty through countryside that is evocative of a bygone age. Smock-clad, straw-chewing farm hands wielding pitchforks still tend the patchwork fields. The pace of life is slow, serene and contemplative - City stresses will simply ebb away.

Countryside activities abound:

Equestrian enthusiasts will love Eden Meadows Riding Centre, only 7 minutes away in Rocklands for a cross country hack or lessons.

Anglers will be in paradise, with Scoulton Mere 600 metres away and Rocklands Mere fishery 2 miles.
Website: http://www.troutfisheryuk.com/

Walkers and cyclists have the world at their feet in Breckland, with the majestic Thetford Forest beckoning to be explored. The Peddars Way bisects the Brecks on the way up to the north Norfolk coast.

Twitchers will literally convulse with excitement at the birdlife at Blakeney Point and adjacent marshes and beaches.

Golf fanatics shall not be disappointed - they will make their way to the Richmond Park Course in Saham Toney, or Barnham Broom.

For your children's recreation, education and amusement, Melsop Farm Park , 5 minutes walk away, is highly recommended. They can roam around mingling with all the beautiful animals such as rare owls, reindeer, sheep and rabbits and much more, with an outdoor adventure playground to burn off their energy, including softer indoor section for younger children.

Racegoers can enjoy a flutter at Fakenham Races, a fitting venue for the Sport of Kings.

Four miles away is Hingham. There you can find an excellent butcher, a tea shop and bistro and a newly refurbished Hotel and Bar, which is decidedly upmarket. There's also a wine merchant who stocks the very highest quality first growths and Burgundies as well as lovely but more affordable quaffing.

Watton is about 6 miles away - there are lots of shops, high street banks and a farmers' market some days, and beyond it lies the majesty of Breckland's forests, which ultimately give way to the ever-so-slightly disquieting atmosphere of the fens.

Historic Wymondham , appx. 9 miles away, is highly recommended for its Abbey. The sports centre has an excellent swimming pool. Waitrose supplies all the high end food and wine one could wish for. The scenic Mid Norfolk Railway line runs the 18 miles through the beautiful and unspoilt Wensum Valley to Dereham, with Santa specials at Christmas time, Easter specials as well as Summer tourist runs.

Attleborough, 6 miles away, boasts excellent dining out at the Royal Garden Chinese restaurant and The Mulberry Tree for modern European. Curry lovers - look no further than the Shipla Tandoori. There is a gymnasium to burn it all off and opposite that, a top class coffee shop.

Banham has a lovely Zoo: we and the children never tire of it. It is humane and pleasing, the animals have space and relative freedon, and all look contented. About half an hour away by car.

Motorsport and car fanatics can inhale the fumes and revel in the evocative sounds of racing engines at Snetterton racing circuit: only 14 minutes away by car.

The LOTUS Formula 1 Team are based only 3 miles away at Hingham, while their legendary Hethel road car factory and test track is only half an hour away. This area is England's answer to Italy, Ferrari and Maranello!

Norwich itself is a particularly fine city, classy yet mercifully spares us the priggish, precious pretentiousness that can be so nauseating in certain other provincial cities. Followers of Association Football can book seats at Carrow Road to see Delia Smith's beloved Norwich City in action. Motto: "Come on - lets be 'avin yer!"

Norfolk is steeped in history and Breckland has particularly fine and interesting Churches to visit.

Also in easy striking distance:

Norfolk Broads
Beaches of Norfolk and Suffolk - 40 to 60 minutes
Blickling Hall and gardens - National Trust. Quite superb for a day trip.
Holkham Hall - The Earl of Leicester's magnificent 17th century Palladian seat and estate in north Norfolk.
Sandringham - The Royal residence
Lakenheath Fighter Base Viewing Area - see the deadly beauty of F15 Fighting Eagles at close quarters!

For further information: http://www.visitbreckland.com/


History Of The Old Rectory

The Old Rectory is Grade II listed and the oldest part dates back to William and Mary, built around 1690 using local clay lump construction. A magnificent Georgian wing was completed circa 1835, with the Annexe itself added in the late Victorian era. The Holy Trinity church is about a mile away over the fields as the crow flies. The last Rector, JJ Morgan, was incumbent from 1899 until 1925.

Reverend Morgan's benefice ended when he shot himself to death in his bedroom, his family having deserted him a few years earlier.

The local Gamekeeper, Frederick Charles Perkins took residence and ultimately became the owner, and for many years it was a retreat for wealthy Londoners to do shooting from. Perkins sold it to the author Cressida Lindsay in 1966, in whose family it remained for forty years, until the present owners' acquisition.

During the Cressida Lindsay era the Old Rectory was a focal point of 60's and 70's alternative literary and pop culture, with hip Londoners and Norfolkers partying for days on end at the house and in the grounds. Indeed, it is part of local folklore that Jimi Hendrix was counted amongst the revellers.

Scoulton (All Saints)

SCOULTON (All Saints), a parish, in the union and hundred of Wayland, W. division of Norfolk, 3� miles (W. S. W.) from Hingham; containing 360 inhabitants. It is situated on the road from Norwich to Watton; and comprises 2193a. 36p., of which 1488 acres are arable, 494 meadow and pasture, 29 water, and 153 woodland and plantations. The living is a discharged rectory, valued in the king's books at £10. 4. 2., and in the gift of John Weyland, Esq.: the tithes have been commuted for £450, and the glebe comprises 53 acres. The church has a low tower, of which the upper story is octangular.



Occasional Blog:

30.6.08

Summer is now here in full swing at last. The Moorhens are hatching their final broods on the ponds, while the three terrapins are topping up on ultraviolet to make vital vitamin D. An occasional heron visited last week, vainly attempting to nab some rudd. The housemartins look to be very busy still. The roses are at their best right now, a livid mix of blood red and old english white, especially beautiful against the whitewashed brickwork. The sheep in the field opposite are no more - gone for slaughter, to be replaced by a new family in the Autumn. The only sound to punctuate the peace is the odd report of the farmer's shotgun or the distant crump of field artillery on Thetford ranges.

3.7.08

A sudden heavy thunder storm has refreshed the lawns today, greening them up seemingly instantaneously, and clearing the air. The ponds remain low however.

5.7.08

A crystal clear afternoon following a short, sharp deluge at lunchtime took all the dust out of the atmosphere and kept it moist to the ground. Late afternoon I went for a 5 mile run along the old route of the railway (a victim of the Beeching cuts?) through Thetford Forest at Wretham, bisecting the medieval wetland swamp of Cranberry Rough. Once a prehistoric lake, it has silted up over the millennia and is now an eerie, wooded swamp, incredibly atmospheric. The digitalis purpura are at the end of their flowering spires now, having been quite spectacular when I last did this route 2 weeks ago. A small herd of red deer were an exciting sight 2 miles in. The landscape around here feels like England must have looked some 300 years ago, before modern agriculture.

23.7.08

Very hot indeed today. A big, blue and green dragonfly has been flitting about, 2 feet over the surface of the main pond all day.

The nearby wheat and barley fields have begun to ripen from green to golden seas as high Summer unfolds.

The same running route as 5.7.08 was notably different today: high ferns, some taller than a man, flanked the paths, thankfully inhibiting stinging nettles that hopelessly try to compete . The red deer herd were at the same field 2 miles in, up to their shoulders now in wheat.

27.7.08

A sweltering day spent most enjoyably at the Household Cavalry Open Day at Bodney Camp, the other side of Watton. This annual event is a must if you are in the area. The horses are beautiful and equalled by the skill of their riders. Jumping, jousting, racing; a horse and miltary fiesta.

The farmers are now harvesting the fields in earnest, creating geometric fields of cylindrical hay bales.

3.8.08

The Wayland Show at Watton showcased local livestock and country sports. Splendid weather in this otherwise disappointing Summer of leaden skies blessed the occasion.

8.8.08

Spotted a red damsel fly as well as the large dragonfly over the pond this afternoon. Last night my daughter and I saw a flash of iridescent turquoise on a fast flying small bird near the big pond, possibly a kingfisher.


10.8.08

The next village - Little Ellingham - staged a Ploughing and Thrashing Show this weekend, with many old fashioned tractors and steam engines on display and engaging in ploughing competitions. A steam thresher processesd the wheat harvested by a steam harvester. An extraordinary glimpse back to the golden age of English agriculture. My camera was working overtime.

24.08.08

Once the sun emerged after lunch, I ventured out into the garden, to be rewarded with seeing a lizard by the pond in the undergrowth and numerous tiny fry in the shallows. I hope they survive.

27.8.08

The fry may survive but the adult rudd are being preyed upon by a visiting heron that comes in the early hours around dawn. The herons can clear a pond in no time, which would be tragic.

3.9.08

We 've just acquired five chickens a couple of days ago and they laid their first eggs yesterday. No need for Annexe guests to worry about buying eggs anymore!

14.9.08

Went for a run around Thetford Forest this afternoon - and saw a grass snake slithering on the path near a reservoir. Snakes love water.

7.10.08

On cold mornings the mist clings to the floor of the fields, lending an eerie atmosphere. The leaves are just beginning to turn. A good sharp frost would switch the colours to Autumnal in a matter of days.

15.07.09

A freak June hailstorm wreaked havoc in the garden stripping the flowers form the borders- but they are now begining to recover, thankfully.

2 hens have dissappeared - possible victims of a fox.

9.01.10

Snow and Ice grip the country and we are no exception, yet we and the annexe remain rather smug: snug, warm and cosy, with log fires and central heating. The Barn Owls hoot at night, eerily hidden in the ghostly moonlight reflected from the snow-covered grounds. The sheep in the front field are well prepared with their thick fleeces, encrusted though they are in ice!

08.04.2011

A hot day - and the first appearance of the year for one of the terrapins in the pond, out of hibernation. The primroses are in full bloom, interspersed with violets. The pond is quite low due to the dry spring so far. Fish stocks were decimated late summer 2010 when the heron and kingfisher both feasted on the fish as the again very low levels left them little depth of water in which to hide. The kingfisher hunted by perching on a stick that emerges from the centre of the pond bed only when levels are exceptionally low in late high summer. A few minnows remain and the population should bounce back in a year or two.

How to get there

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A11 from London
Fly to Norwich Airport (20 miles) or Stanstead (1 hour)

Activities near Hingham, Norfolk

Reviews

Review: 1 to 1 of 1

10 Jan 2012

“A Quiet, Comfy, Warm and Cosy Retreat” We had a lovely stay here. Lesley and Adrian (the proprietors) could not have been more helpful. It was warm and cosy, well equiped and the beds were really comfortable. Set in very peaceful grounds with parking outside the front door. We will go back there again.

Review: 1 to 1 of 1

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Rental prices

Prices for group size 4
Period	From	To	Weekly	Nightly rate		Minimum  stay
				Weekday	Weekend
	26 Nov 11	3 Dec 11	265£ 265	0-	0-	1 Week
	3 Dec 11	10 Dec 11	275£ 275	0-	0-	1 Week
	10 Dec 11	17 Dec 11	285£ 285	0-	0-	1 Week
	17 Dec 11	24 Dec 11	300£ 300	0-	0-	1 Week
	24 Dec 11	31 Dec 11	350£ 350	0-	0-	1 Week
	31 Dec 11	7 Jan 12	350£ 350	0-	0-	1 Week
	7 Jan 12	14 Jan 12	285£ 285	0-	0-	1 Week
	14 Jan 12	21 Jan 12	250£ 250	0-	0-	1 Week
	21 Jan 12	28 Jan 12	250£ 250	0-	0-	1 Week
	28 Jan 12	4 Feb 12	240£ 240	0-	0-	1 Week
	4 Feb 12	11 Feb 12	240£ 240	0-	0-	1 Week
	11 Feb 12	18 Feb 12	275£ 275	0-	0-	1 Week
	18 Feb 12	25 Feb 12	265£ 265	0-	0-	1 Week

NB: Prices may be subject to change at the advertiser's discretion.

Availability

See below for next 9 months' availability - to see the next 24 months click here

Contact the owner

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3 years listed You are contacting Lesley Lord Landline +44 01953 851371 Mobile +44 07825261959 Languages spoken The owner is based in the United Kingdom and has advertised with Holiday Lettings since 2008. This apartment has received 1 review from previous guests.