Reviews of 40 more Bolt Hole hotels from The Sunday Times

Turning the front-door key at Vine House, I can immediately tell I’m somewhere a bit special.

It’s not just the genteel Georgian hallway, or even the butler in the corner. It’s more the magazine on the doormat, where you’d expect the local paper to be. This is the Eco Echo, journal of everything north Norfolk, with cover lines that read: “Facial reflexology... Reiki healing... Rare-breed pork...”

Burnham Market is the unofficial capital of England’s champagne coast, and Vine House is at the heart of it, hemmed by preppy boutiques and poshed-up food stores. Burnham’s a perky place to while away a weekend, and some people credit Stephen Fry with making the village so fashionable — he lives nearby — but Paul Whittome must take some of the plaudits.

Titchwell Manor, Brancaster, Norfolk

Thoroughly recommended if you have dogs, like the outdoors, birds and good food

• Field House, Hindringham, Norfolk

Fritton House, Fritton, Norfolk

The hotel is set in a country park, which has lots of attractions for children, and therein lies a warning

• Local knowledge: North Norfolk

• Norfolk: the English seaside as it should be

• North Norfolk pubs with rooms

The Hoste Arms, Burnham Market, Norfolk

A perfect English pub with top class food and service, says Ginny McGrath

• Deepdale Stables Backpacker Hostel, Norfolk

BACKGROUND

• The Rose and Crown, Snettisham, Norfolk

• The Crown, Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk

• The Globe Inn, Wells, Norfolk

• Triumphal Arch, Holkham, Norfolk

• Byfords, Holt, Norfolk

Whittome is the owner, host and presiding potentate of the Hoste Arms, Burnham’s 17th-century inn, and has spent 20 years honing it to a model of rustic-chic relaxation. Vine House is his latest venture — a boutique hotel across the square. Annexes don’t come much swankier.

How do they compare?

The Hoste is upmarket but matey, with a bar out front, three or four wainscoted dining rooms, a Moroccan garden, its own art gallery, 36 bedrooms and even a Zulu Wing (designed by Whittome’s South African wife, Jeanne). Vine House is its reserved younger sister, dressed in formal Regency finery and screened discreetly from the action.

The building can’t have changed much since local lad Horatio Nelson knew it in the 1790s, with its hunting-pink brick exterior and tall sash windows. Beyond the hallway are two dove-grey drawing rooms with stuccoed fireplaces and antique gongs. There’s an immaculate formal garden, too.

So is Vine House a hotel at all?

Not in its own right; not really. Check-in, bar, restaurant and all the staff (except for the butler) are over the road at the Hoste — hence the stash of welly boots under the stairs, to help you make the transfer. As there are only seven bedrooms, and nobody much about, I find it easy to start imagining I own the place.

What are the bedrooms like?

They’re contemporary plush, with ornate gilt mirrors, glittery sconces, tasselled drapes and cushions tumbling everywhere. One of the bathrooms even has a chandelier in it. My room, No 52, feels like Empress Josephine’s boudoir, and has a blue-ish decor that some might find a little gloomy. My other half declares it “restful”.

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