Dead flowers in room, lack of staff, bathroom dirty took 2 months to get a refund from the hotel.
This hotel is beautifully fitted, the kitchen produce good food (though during our stay not as interesting as that advertised on the hotel's website) and the hotel has the potentail to be really special however, customer relations are poor when a problem arises.

Spent a weekend here recently. The owner Willy is a real character and a great fun. The place has been beautifully fitted out and no expense appears to have been speared. Wonderful little touches abound like stuffed toys to hang on your door as ‘do not disturb’ and a decanter of port in the bedroom. Liked the Playstation / DVD player in the bedroom too.

With all the obvious care and expense that has clearly gone into fitting out this wonderful hotel, service was at best patchy. The receptionist was very helpful about local restaurants. She wasn’t as helpful about sorting out those wretched credit-cards that hotels now issue instead of keys. The damn thing simply wouldn’t work and it was quite clearly an inconvenience for her to have to come and let me into our room.

The young barman was clueless. No idea that he had Armagnac while staring at a bottle of Janneau. Similarly when asked if he could find a light for a guest he refused. Similarly, Sunday breakfast a trial. Staff all clearly hungover, had to demand coffee, toast, etc. Woken to a dawn chorus on Sunday to the sound of staff emptying empty bottles into a skip.

So then, in summary, a lovely hotel great for a weekend away but service shoddy and needs tightening up.

We enjoyed our two days here, mainly as our room was so beautifully designed and maintained. Our en-suite had a great shower and was well designed with stone tiles, fluffy white towels and handmade soap that smelled wonderful. Nice touches included the delivery of milk and homemade cookies at tea time that we enjoyed with our tea. My husband had fun with the PS2 as well, and during the inclement Norfolk weather meant we could borrow DVDs from the hotel reception and watch them.

Some rooms can be quite noisy from the King's Lynn road so check you're facing out towards the barley fields & windmill at the back.

The restaurant food was delicious, wonderful dishes with a dedicated chef. But the service was very very slow for example we sat in front of our dirty plates for 20 mins before someone would take them, and we we had to then ask for the pudding menu (which we didn't order as couldn't face the wait). There was a new supervisor there so maybe these are teething issues? Didn't seem to be enough staff. Breakfast was a good spread with newspapers available too.

The hotel decor is a wee bit too contemporary for the building and although it would be fabulous in a buzzy city like London or NY, it doesn't quite 'fit' with the rural location and the fabric of the building - see the Victoria at Holkham for how to do this properly!

Bircham is also quite far inland if you're serious about exploring the coastal beaches, restaurants & art galleries but a lovely part of the world.

We have just enjoyed a two night stay at this stylish venue, and can echo all the previous complimentary reviews.
Changes may have been made since some earlier criticisms, because the dinner menu now includes "snack" options that can be served in the bar, and although the menu was the same for both nights the choice is so wide that it wasn't a problem.
As for the breakfast, this was freshly cooked to order and also included delicious homemade marmalade
To top it all the bar serves a tasty range of local ales!