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.

For more "hands-on" inspiration you might take the opportunity of your stay at White Lodge Farm Cottages to enhance your catering skills by attending one of the half day or all-day workshops offered by a number of the top chefs in Norfolk. Workshops are available with Galton Blackiston at Morston Hall, Richard Hughes at the Lavender House and Jamie Murch at Congham Hall. Workshops with a "hands-off" approach are offered at Delia Smith's Restaurant and Bar at Norwich City Football Club.

But a self-catering holiday needn't be all self catering. You might choose to eat out on a few occasions. For some ideas see "Eating Out" 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 and no-one in the party has to drive anywhere!

The following cater for guests at White Lodge Farm Cottages:

• Suzie Ritchie - 01603 880325
• 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 them. 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

• Morston Hall 01263 741041
• The Lavender House 01603 712215
• Jamie Murch at Congham Hall 01485 600250
• Delia Smith's Restaurant and Bar 01603 218704
• Suzie Ritchie 01603 880325
• Jane Howard 01953 850335