Samphire and Sea
Sometimes I feel very marooned living pretty much slap bang in the middle of England, you couldn't live further from the coast if you tried. Having spent most of my childhood on pebbly Sussex beaches, crossing the North Sea in rusty ferries to the reclaimed lands of Holland or just messing about in rivers and lakes I find myself yearning for some salty sea air. So to scratch this itch a couple of days each year we drive across the fens to the North Norfolk coast to kick off our shoes and lose ourselves amongst the dunes before feasting on crabs and mussels.
One of the delights of a summer visit to this coast is foraging for wild samphire, although if you don't fancy picking your own, pretty much every flint cottage along the winding coast road has an honesty box or sign notifying bags for sale. Briefly cooked and anointed with a knob of unsalted butter this iodine rich, bright green plant tastes of the sea and is perhaps my most favourite vegetable.
On this particular trip we stayed in a little B&B just yards from the quay in Wells-next-the-sea. Run by a lovely couple it is perhaps the nicest B&B I have stayed in for quite a while and certainly has the best bathroom you will ever having the pleasure of using. The bedroom is light and pretty with a very comfortable bed and the aforementioned bathroom contains a roll top bath and large separate shower next to an original fireplace. A picture window with wooden shutters and lace curtains flutters in the sea breeze whilst you lay back in the bath after a hard day on the beach.
This is a house that obviously has a lot of secrets and our host showed us hidden staircases and secret windows and told of how a Pagan symbol rumoured to have protected against witches had been revealed during renovation. In the sunny kitchen the next morning I had the most exquisite kipper for breakfast whilst M had sausages, eggs and bacon. I'd rather like to keep this place a little secret but should you be near Wells and in need of somewhere rather delightful to stay I can wholeheartedly recommend Crugmeer B&B.
One of the delights of a summer visit to this coast is foraging for wild samphire, although if you don't fancy picking your own, pretty much every flint cottage along the winding coast road has an honesty box or sign notifying bags for sale. Briefly cooked and anointed with a knob of unsalted butter this iodine rich, bright green plant tastes of the sea and is perhaps my most favourite vegetable.
On this particular trip we stayed in a little B&B just yards from the quay in Wells-next-the-sea. Run by a lovely couple it is perhaps the nicest B&B I have stayed in for quite a while and certainly has the best bathroom you will ever having the pleasure of using. The bedroom is light and pretty with a very comfortable bed and the aforementioned bathroom contains a roll top bath and large separate shower next to an original fireplace. A picture window with wooden shutters and lace curtains flutters in the sea breeze whilst you lay back in the bath after a hard day on the beach.
This is a house that obviously has a lot of secrets and our host showed us hidden staircases and secret windows and told of how a Pagan symbol rumoured to have protected against witches had been revealed during renovation. In the sunny kitchen the next morning I had the most exquisite kipper for breakfast whilst M had sausages, eggs and bacon. I'd rather like to keep this place a little secret but should you be near Wells and in need of somewhere rather delightful to stay I can wholeheartedly recommend Crugmeer B&B.
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