An Introduction
A casino hotel resort on the salt marsh.
Saltmarsh House is a Top Hotel and Casino Resort, and the building was raised in 1908 by a Stiffkey corn-merchant who had prospered through the agricultural years before the Edwardian downturn — a modest brick-and-flint house on the village quay end, set on the inland edge of the salt marshes that run for fifteen miles along this stretch of the north Norfolk coast. The house was opened to guests in its present form in 2018, after a careful two-year restoration of the Edwardian fabric.
Stiffkey is a small village on the coast road between Wells-next-the-Sea and Blakeney, with about three hundred residents and an unhurried temper. The marshes here are tidal and run about half a mile out from the village to the open sea; on the highest tides the water comes within fifty yards of the front gate, and on the lowest it withdraws to a creek you can step across. The house faces north, across the marsh, to the line of the sea-bank and the open water beyond.
One restaurant serves the property: a single dining room in what was the merchant's original parlour, with the 1908 panelled walls kept in their painted Edwardian green and three deep sash windows opening to the marsh. The cooking is north-Norfolk in temper — samphire from the marsh in the right weeks of August, mussels and oysters from Brancaster, partridge from the surrounding farms in season, the bread baked daily by the village baker who comes in at six. A short list of English and German wines is held; the cellar is in the original brick coal-cellar below the kitchen.
The house is owned by a couple from the north of England who came down to Norfolk fifteen years ago, and is run day-to-day by a permanent staff of four, with two more from May through September. We do not intend to grow the property. Eleven rooms is the limit at which the parlour still seats everyone in one sitting and the porch is not crowded at the evening drink.
House Book — Saltmarsh
An accounting of the property
Built
1908, for a Stiffkey corn-merchant
Construction
Soft brick, flint, lime-wash, slate roof
Working life
Family house to 1974, then a small B&B 1976–2014
Restoration
2016–2018, two-year project
Rooms
Eleven, all in the house itself
Dining
North-facing parlour, one sitting
Card room
Upper writing room, above the porch
Setting
Stiffkey marshes, north Norfolk coast
The rooms of the house
What the house holds.
The property is small and the principal rooms are few. The list below moves from the front porch on the marsh side through the ground-floor rooms, up to the writing room on the second floor, and out to the small walled garden at the back. None of the rooms are themed.
— I —
The porch & hall
north side · ground floor
The Edwardian porch faces the marsh, with the original tiled floor in dark red and cream and the small bench against the back wall kept in regular use through the milder weeks of the year. Reception is at a small mahogany desk in the panelled hall just inside; the porter answers the bell from a back room after hours. The porch is used through most of the year for drinks before dinner.
— II —
The parlour
north side · ground floor
The single dining room of the house, in what was the merchant's original parlour, with three deep sash windows opening to the marsh. The 1908 panelling is kept in its painted Edwardian green; the floor is the original wide oak boards. Five tables, kept widely spaced. One sitting at lunch, one at dinner. The fire is lit through eight months of the year.
— III —
The library bar
east side · ground floor
The small bar of the property, in what was the merchant's library, on the east side of the ground floor. The original Edwardian bookshelves run the length of the inner wall and hold most of the corn-merchant's own library left to the house in 1974. Open from four. The bar itself is in the corner alcove behind the door; warmed in winter by the original cast-iron stove.
— IV —
The nine house rooms
first & second floors
Nine guest rooms on the first and second floors of the house, all retaining their original Edwardian fireplaces (now sealed but kept as they were) and most their original sash windows. The four north-facing rooms on the first floor overlook the marsh; the three on the second floor look up over the village to the line of the woods beyond. The two corner rooms in the east turret are quietly favoured.
— V —
The writing room
second floor · above the porch
A small writing room on the second floor immediately above the porch, in what was originally the merchant's own private study. Three reading chairs, the original 1908 writing desk in the window, and a long shelf of north-Norfolk and East Anglian titles. The card room is run within this writing room by appointment, closed Sundays and during the worst of January.
— VI —
The walled garden
outside · behind the house
A small walled garden behind the house, laid out by the merchant's wife in 1910 and kept in much the same form since, with a long brick wall on the south side warming the kitchen garden through the summer. A single old apple tree by the back gate gives a small crop in October. The garden is used through the summer for breakfast.
Where we are
The north Norfolk coast.
Stiffkey sits on the A149 coast road in north Norfolk, two miles east of Wells-next-the-Sea and four miles west of Blakeney. The drive from London is reliably three hours; from Cambridge, an hour and three-quarters; from Norwich, an hour. Trains stop at King's Lynn or Sheringham; the porter meets the train at Sheringham by arrangement, given a day's notice.
The house sits on Quay End, the short lane at the eastern edge of the village that runs down toward the marsh. The lane is paved to the front gate. There is parking on a small gravel sweep at the side of the house, and additional parking in the village if needed.
The property keeps about half a hectare of garden and quay edge, including the house, the small walled garden, a short stretch of grass down toward the marsh, and the original 1908 brick boundary wall on three sides. The marshes themselves are National Trust land and are open for walking on the sea-bank path that runs the length of the coast; the path at the back of the property meets the sea-bank after about three hundred yards.
For maps, transfer arrangements, and the porter's schedule, please see Contact. We are happy to arrange a car from Sheringham or King's Lynn with sufficient notice — usually a day, two in the high summer.
A note on responsibility
The card room is kept narrow, by intention.
By registration, the property carries a casino hotel licence — but the small card room run within the upper writing room is operated more in the manner of a private library than a public floor. It is not promoted, not advertised, and not open to guests under twenty-one. It is closed on Sundays and during the worst weeks of January, when the marsh is in its hardest weather and the house keeps shorter hours.
This website does not facilitate, advertise, or take part in any form of online play, wagering, or remote gambling. If you have concerns about gambling — your own, or that of someone close to you — please see our Responsible Gaming notice, which sets out the resources we know to be appropriate.
— Marsh log, Tuesday afternoon —
The tide is in and the marsh is high. The geese came in over the sea-bank at four. The library bar is open from four, the parlour is laid for one at half-seven, and the porch is in afternoon light.
TideHigh at 16:42
WindE 3, cold
Air8°C, clear
Sun set16:24
— Reception, Saltmarsh House