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.

Christmas is a time when people tend to spend more money on alcohol to drink at home and I guess we usually spend most of that in the supermarket. I popped into Fakenham’s Tesco to buy some coffee today (they’re the only shop locally which stocks my brand of decaf) and took note of the ‘ale’ section of the Tesco booze aisle.

Disappointing choice, I must say – I’m sure it’s shrunk since the shop opened. Fakenham Morrisons’ ale section must be at least double that size! Waitrose in Swaffham usually has a decent selection too, I seem to remember.  Lidl’s is just a bit of an afterthought – they don’t even stock any good Euro beers.

So… it looks like a December pilgrimage to Beers Of Europe at Setchey near Kings Lynn is on the cards. Imagine a shop the size of Lidl, but full of hundreds of beers from all over the world, and you’ll get the picture. Absolutely amazing place. I’ll be on the lookout for Fullers London Porter and Vintage Ale, Krusovice Cerne, Bernard and Budvar Dark Czech lager and maybe some American ‘hop bombs’ too. Cheers!

Do you know somebody into birdwatching? North Norfolk’s a bit of a paradise when it comes to ‘twitching’ and a brilliant shop where you can buy all the gear is out at Titchwell, on the coast.

In Focus are one of my oldest website clients and the guys there are seriously into birding – what they don’t know about binoculars and scopes could be written on a grain of birdseed, so they’re the ideal people to ask for advice when buying a birding prezzie for somebody.

Optical equipment can be an expensive investment, but In Focus allow you to try things out first and their shop has great views over the surrounding RSPB reserve – ideal for comparing the kit in field conditions. Need some help? See Vernon or Richard at Titchwell – they’ll look after you!

The English Whisky Company at Roudham near Thetford have just released their first single malt whisky, a non-peated version called “Chapter 6″ - the first to be distilled in England for more than 100 years. The distillery was set up in 2006, but only now can their spirit be oficially called whisky, after being stored in oak barrels for 3 years.

They sell other whiskies and their own Norfolk liqueurs too. I ordered a bottle of their malt spirit last Christmas as a present for somebody and they were very helpful with the purchase, shipping my pretty-late order up to Lancashire safely and in time for the holiday with no fuss.

There – that’s another idea for a Norfolk Christmas present sorted for you!

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!!!

Dudgeon Offshore Wind Limited is keen to hear the views of the local community about the onshore elements of this project and has arranged three public exhibitions where members of the public will have the opportunity to ask questions and to learn about the Dudgeon project in more detail. Exhibitions are planned as follows:

 • Tuesday 17th November 2009, Fakenham Parish Church, 1pm – 8pm
• Wednesday 18th Nov. 2009, Necton Rural Community Centre (Village Hall), 12am – 7pm
• Thursday 19th November 2009, Holt Community Centre, 1pm – 8pm

 The exhibitions will be manned by key members of the project team and will include displays providing detail on the Dudgeon project and the associated engineering and environmental studies being undertaken for the development.

Having watched BBC’s iPlayer coverage of yesterday’s Lord Mayor’s Show in London, I thought it might be fun to post some video captures of PMC’s pea harvester in the procession – just to prove they were there! I’m sure lots of Fakenham people who work there (and previously at FMC) would be interested.

There’s a story running on the BBC about one of Fakenham’s takeaway restaurants. Spice Heaven had been painted in bright Norwich FC -like colours and officials from North Norfolk District Council think that “the whole elevation in this yellow colour is a little too much“.  Owner Raj Khan had wanted it to “stand out a bit” and I reckon he succeeded, albeit with a bit of a backfire.

I’m reminded of the old Chinese curse: “May you come to the attention of those in authority.”

In my opinion, it’s a tad bright but not too bad really. My office is in Norwich Street too, so I pass it twice a day – and it didn’t take long for me to get used to it. Nice bit of PR for the owner though – well done Raj. At least something good has come out of the fuss!

I wonder how the aforementioned NNDC official would view “THAT PINK HOUSE” in Lenwade.  It’s one of my personal favourites (for all the wrong reasons) and I reckon it puts this little dispute in perspective!

I can’t wait for Christmas and the outstanding display of naff house decorations we tend to get these days. I’ll try to snap some of the finest examples for this site!

Tomorrow sees the annual Firework Display at Fakenham Racecourse. The Chamber of Trade will be running the show, aided as always by the presenters of North Norfolk Radio. Gates will open at 5.00pm for the funfair and the main display will be at 6.30pm. Tickets on the gate are £5 per person (walking) and £15 per car (max 5 persons).

Kickstart Fakenham are organizing an Autumn Tidy Up on Saturday 14th November. Meet up at 10am in the Market Square, where you’ll get your litter-pickers and possibly some natty fluorescent tabards! We attended the last one which was a good fun couple of hours. Bring some friends and have a laugh whilst doing some useful clearing up. Maybe this time we’ll have a side-bet on who collects the weirdest bit of junk!

It’s that time of year again – the Norwich Beer Festival is held every October at St. Andrews & Blackfriars Hall, this year (the 32nd annual event) it runs from 26th to 31st of the month.

With over 200 cask-conditioned ales from independent brewers across the UK, a wide selection of draught and bottled foreign beers and 25 kinds of cider & perry to try, it’s a great place to visit. It’s become a bit of an annual pilgrimage for our family and there’ll be at least half a dozen of us in attendance on Monday. Always a friendly atmosphere there – it gets jam-packed but there’s never any bother. Everybody’s too engrossed in tasting the ale!