The Crown‘s a very tastefully done place. Chic off-whites, wood floors, bare brick walls and timber beams plus a roaring fire give it a simple but up-market gastropub interior. But is it a case of ‘style over content’?

We went there this evening for a staff Xmas meal. A drink at the bar before everybody arrived gave us a choice of three ales – Woodforde’s Wherry, Adnams Bitter or Broadside. Not an inspiring choice – and I was sure they made a big thing of their ‘local ales’ on the website (how local is Suffolk?). Wherry is at least from our county (and a lovely pint if kept well) , but you find it almost everywhere. Safe but pretty dull. However, the ale was in good nick.

We ate in the room upstairs – another tastefully finished  area, although seating for our large group was a bit haphazard, with a bench as well as chairs and some unlevel tables joined together.

The food: My starter was spicy parsnip soup with a ‘hand-made’ bread roll and croutons. Quite tasty but not the best I’ve tasted.

Main course was turkey with all the trimmings. The meat was a tad sparse and dry, stuffing was a nondescript afterthought – but the bacon-wrapped banger was very flavoursome. Red cabbage, roast potatoes and carrots were good but the sprouts were the size and consistency of golf balls! They should have been cooked for twice the amount of time for beasts of that size. Only a couple of bowls of veg between us all too.

Pudding: I had ‘pineapple spring rolls’ but there seemed to be just one – cut into two parts. Not much flavour, I’m afraid. Somebody said their ‘chocolate orange torte’ was just choc flavoured with an orange ‘jus’. The descriptions of the food need to be adjusted, methinks.

Overall a nice welcoming pub (and it was good to see it being well-used by locals) but I was underwhelmed with  the meal which cost £25 a head. Last year’s Xmas dinner at The Hourglass in Sculthorpe knocked spots off it – and for less money. Knowing that the Crown’s owner is a well-known chef makes it more of a disappointment – I was probably expecting something more exciting.

Eaten anywhere good in the area recently? Post a comment and share it with us.

It was looking pretty busy in the town centre this morning, with more visitors being planned for later. The Farmers’ Market seemed like it was thriving, with lots of people buying stuff. The Craft Fair in the parish church was in full swing too – lots of stalls and a good stream of customers as well.

Later this afternoon, the market place will host more stalls, rides and performers in the lead-up to the Christmas lights switch-on at 5pm. I’m informed Santa’s grotto will be there as well. It’s all go, isn’t it?

Edit: This post took all of three minutes to appear in a Google search!!!

Local pea and bean harvester manufacturers PMC have been chosen to represent the UK farming industry at London’s Lord mayor’s Show tomorrow. The Fakenham company will be proudly displaying one of their £350,000 pea harvesters in the parade, promoting the ‘Yes Peas’ campaign on behalf of The Worshipful Company of Farmers. Well done to PMC in Holt Road, putting Fakenham firmly on the UK agricultural map!

Did you know that 20% of pea production in the UK comes from Norfolk? Also, did you realise that although the pea season only lasts around 7 weeks, one of PMC’s harvesters could fill 3,000,000 packs of peas in that time? Oh… and PMC’s Engineering Manager goes by the name of Robert Plant – if that doesn’t rock, what does?

It’s Curry Central in the Hall household today. I’m donning the chef’s hat again in an attempt to use all our balti dishes for a single meal!

We have a visitor coming down from Middlesbrough, so he’ll probably need warming up with a couple of chillified concoctions before sending him out to sample our local beer tonight!

On the menu: lamb rogan, chicken balti, dhal, saag aloo, mushroom bhaji, Bombay potato, Gujerati carrot and cabbage (that’s the missus’ speciality) and naan bread. Should keep everybody quiet for five minutes!