Given that most places to stay in the area are self-catering holiday homes it is a massive plus that there is so much good local food easily available and so you can eat very well indeed with little effort. This is particularly relevant during the peak holiday seasons as the most popular restaurant tables are hard to secure which means more meals need to be taken at home.
Sherbhert recipes typically have few ingredients and so easily lend themselves to self-catering holiday cooking. Type a key word, for example, “samphire” in the search facility and hit enter to check for recipes on this site. See also below some suggested links for some of the local Norfolk foods mentioned.
Eating In
There is an abundance of good seafood including crabs and oysters (available all year) and the local mussels are available from late September to late March and in this period there are cockles too which are a good local alternative to clams. If you are very lucky, you may be able to get a locally caught big fish (or fillets) such as a turbot or wild sea bass. These foods are great for self-catering as they need very little preparation and cooking and very few additional ingredients. Gurney’s in either Burnham Market or Drove Orchards is a good source for fresh or smoked fish as well as a range of fresh herbs and some other bits and pieces including knives for oyster shucking. But look out too for Brancaster mussels for sale at the side of the road in Brancaster Staithe, most notably at Steinvora also home of Branta Cruises.
Fresh Vegetables, Fruits and Herbs
Drove Orchards or Walsingham Farm Shop are good, and they also sell all sorts of other staples including cheese and good quality fresh meat. But, look out too for fresh vegetables and fruits for sale at random places at the side of the road where, subject to the season, you can often pick up outstanding home-grown fruits such as gooseberries (June to July), strawberries and raspberries (July to September) and plums (August to September) and vegetables such as asparagus (April to June) and samphire (May to July) – these are just a few examples.
Cheese, Cured Meats and other treats
For cheese, Suffolk cured meats, bread and other delicious items, go to Humble Pie which is situated in Burnham Market upstairs from Gurney’s fish shop. They sell an excellent selection of regional cheeses including Binham Blue, Wells Alpine, Norfolk Dapple and Norfolk White Lady and also the fabulous Baron Bigod from Fen Farm Dairy in Suffolk as well as their outstanding Bungay butter. There are good pork pies too and a good range of other deli items and cakes and jams. It is a delightful place and the staff are helpful – it gets very busy. Gurney’s has its own bakery and so in addition to Humble Pie good bread is available at its outlets at Drove Orchard and Gurney’s Brancaster Village |Stores, which also sells produce similar to Humble Pie but it also sells wines and beers.
Meat, Poultry and Game
Aside from those general food shops already mentioned, a consistently good butcher is Howells in either Wells or Burnham Market. Their Old English sausages are excellent as is the boiled ham hock. They also have local lamb and pork in particular and game when in season.
Wines, Beers and other drinks
For drinks to have at home there is Adnams at Holkham which usually has a good selection of beers wines and spirits, mostly Adnams branded. On the other hand, the longstanding independent wine merchant, Satchell’s in Burnham Market stocks a wide selection of finer wines, liquors and spirits.
Eating out
There are lots of good pubs which do food, most notably the Hero on the main road at Burnham Overy and the Duck at Stanhoe . Also notable is the Crab Hut at Brancaster Staithe Harbour where they sell teas, coffees, seafood and sandwiches to take away, open from April to October). For more sophisticated dining the best eating house is Socius which has the added benefit of easy parking if you need it as this delightful restaurant is situated in the main car park at Burnham Market. Socius serves consistently excellent sharing plates of delicious and beautifully executed, locally sourced, seasonal food, with Sunday lunch being a more traditional affair – no surprise that this is a Sherbhert favourite.
Here are some links to Sherbhert Recipes relevant to Norfolk and see also; –
North West Norfolk and its Brilliance
Whole Wild Sea Bass Baked with Sherry Vinegar
A Simple Picnic to Ease You Out of Lockdown
Marsh Samphire and what to do with it
Local and Seasonal in April – Asparagus
Local and Seasonal in February – Cockles with Linguine
Sherbhert local and seasonal in November… Mussels
