If the test of a good pub is its popularity with locals, the Gin Trap Inn passes with flying colours. Walk into this handsomely restored 17th-century coaching inn set in north Norfolk’s nature-packed playground — the BBC’s Springwatch is broadcast from Wild Ken Hill, just four miles down the road — and you will be drawn in by the tang of woodsmoke, the lazy gaze of wet dogs and the relaxed babble of locals. With 12 characterful bedrooms and suites (including three self-catering cottages), the Gin Trap Inn is a heritage riot of original beams, low doors and wonky floors. But the restaurant is modern and ambitious, with Gareth Rayner, the chef-patron, gunning for a Michelin-star with his imaginative dishes showcasing the superb local seafood, game and veg. Service throughout is exemplary.
Overall score 9/10
Main photo: the Gin Trap is a restored coaching inn located in north Norfolk
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Rooms and suites
Score 10/10
The three bedrooms upstairs in the main building are packed with period features: thick stone walls, shuttered inset windows and acres of beams — though tradition is lightly worn, with handsome brass bedsteads and antique furniture mixed with quirky elements such as stag-head lamps and a frankly bonkers brushed-metal bathroom floor. All are generous in size. Even the smallest — Bloom — is a large double. The Botanist and Brockmans rooms (which are above the bar so can be noisy) with their low ceilings, exposed brickwork and sprawling superking beds are romantic bolt holes; the ginormous bathrooms feature free-standing cast iron baths and separate showers, with unbranded toiletries in refillable metal bottles.
Three suites in a converted stable block are similarly charming and all nine of the outside suites and cottages are pet-friendly, including Brewhouse Cottage: a cosy two-bedroom with kitchen and lounge, in a converted stone microbrewery dating back to 1668. Behind the pub, five smart, modern suites and cottages have French doors on to private terraces with grassland views. The Warren is fully accessible, while families and groups will appreciate Compasses and Cadaman Cottages, offering social areas and a large well-equipped kitchen downstairs, two double bedrooms and bathroom upstairs.
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Food and drink
Score 9/10
Whether you eat at the bar, in the bright conservatory or adjoining Portrait Room restaurants, or in one of the New England-style cabanas on the terraced garden at the rear, the evening has to start with a G&T — you will be spoilt for choice with more than 100 different gins on offer. The menu, meanwhile, is a who’s who of local producers, featuring mussels from Tim Loose, an eighth-generation fisherman in Brancaster Staithe; and game from the local Le Strange Estate. The menu by Gareth Rayner, the chef, is creative and portions generous (though on the rich side). Starters feature crab with pickled turnip and a ridiculously moreish sourdough crumpet with miso butter (£14), while mains include a beautiful piece of halibut with salsify and oyster emulsion (£27), and free-range pork loin and belly with celeriac and smoked sausage sauce (£25). Leave space for the forced rhubarb pistachio custard millefeuille with rhubarb sorbet (£10). Breakfast is a no-nonsense continental offering or a choice of hot dishes including buckwheat waffles and Staithes smoked salmon with scrambled local eggs.
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What else is there?
Score n/a
Nothing, but don’t miss the local General Store with its interconnecting rooms selling everything from local art to antique farming equipment.
Where is it?
Score 9/10
Ringstead is a quiet hamlet set on Britain’s largest remaining chalk grasslands. Six miles from the big sky beaches of Holme-next-the Sea, start of the 49-mile Peddars Way trail to Thetford, Suffolk, and eight miles from the buzzy independent shops and bars of Burnham Market.
Price B&B rooms from £120 (closed Mondays and Tuesdays)
Restaurant mains from £18
Family-friendly Y
Dog-friendly Y
Accessible Y
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