Eating in

The self-catering cottages at White Lodge Farm are exceptionally well equipped for guests wishing to cater for themselves.

The range of equipment provided in the kitchen allows for adventurous menu choices and, when it comes to serving and dining, there's ample crockery, cutlery and glassware, not to mention serving dishes, spoons and the like. Of course, there are laundered table cloths and napkins and table mats and coasters.

Kitchen equipment naturally includes a food processor, but there's also a range of sharp knives, chopping boards, sieves, a garlic press, scales, measuring jugs, a pizza cutter and, of course, a bottle opener (and bottle stoppers should you not drink the whole bottle). Each cottage also has a salt cellar and pepper mill and to minimise the washing up there's a dishwasher (actually, the Barn has two).

Dairy Cottage and Stable Cottage each have a double oven (gas) with a grill and four hobs and the Barn has a range cooker (also gas) with eight burners, two ovens and a grill. The ovens each have an extractor hood.

Those sourcing ingredients with an eye on their food miles and an identifiable supplier will find a butcher, a baker and two grocery shops in Hingham and a fish merchant in the nearby village of Cranworth.

Should you be looking for inspiration the cottages each have a number of cookery books including, of course, one by Norfolk-resident Delia Smith.

But a self-catering holiday needn't be all self catering. You might choose to eat out on a few occasions. But we've also included some ideas for eating out in pubs and restaurants or you might choose either to have some meals pre-prepared and delivered to your cottage or, for a special treat, have someone prepare a meal for you to your choice of menu and then serve it to you in your cottage. You may be pleasantly surprised at the cost of this little luxury, especially when compared with eating out and, of course, you get your own choice of menu, you get to supply the wine (you might want to take a look at the range offered by our local wine merchant, William Mason Fine Wines) and no-one in the party has to drive anywhere!

The following are all happy to cater for guests at White Lodge Farm Cottages:

• Suzie Ritchie - 01603 880325
• Avril Herron (chef2dine4) - 01603 891554
• Jane Howard - 01953 850335.

How much (or how little) they do at White Lodge Farm (as opposed to pre-preparing) will largely be up to you, as they're quite flexible, and the range of menus is huge. All arrangements are made direct between guests and the caterer.

Click below on the relevant item to download Suzie Ritchie's sample menus (they're only suggestions):

• Delivered to your cottage by Suzie Ritchie - Sample menus (23kb pdf)
• Served to your table by Suzie Ritchie - Sample menus (13kb pdf)

You'll need to have Acrobat Reader loaded on your computer to view the menus. If you do not have this already you can obtain a free copy by clicking on the logo in the bottom left hand corner of this page.

Contact details

• Avril Herron (chef2dine4) 01603 891554
• Jane Howard 01953 850335
• Suzie Ritchie 01603 880325
• William Mason Fine Wines 01953 85088

Guests say ...

“The place is perfectly stocked and the food was aboslutely delicious - we were cooked for by [Suzie Ritchie] and you couldn't have eaten better at a Michelin-starred restaurant.”

-E, S & Co

“We were lucky enough to have Jane Howard to cook us a meal one night. She was brilliant and the food was yummy!”

-The N Clan

“The kitchen is better equipped than mine at home - and I WANT the washing machine!”

-S, B, M, R, Z and GR