Lynford Hall

Location

The Lynford Hall Hotel is a short distance east of the A1065 which links Fakenham to Mildenhall. The Hotel is 36.8 miles (59.2 km) south west of the city of Norwich. The hotel is 5.4 miles (8.7 km) north east from the nearest railway station which is at Brandon. The nearest Airport is in Norwich and is 39.3 miles (63.2 km) north east of the hotel.

History

The house was built in 1857-1862 by William Burn for Stephens Lyne-Stephens, said at the time to be the richest commoner in England. He was married to the French ballerina Yolande (Pauline) Duvernay for whom he had a Catholic chapel built out of native flintstone. Stephens died before the estate house was completed, but Yolande retained the house and estate until her death in 1894.

Under later owners, regular guests included Joe Kennedy, then the United States ambassador to the United Kingdom. He was often accompanied on his visits by his sons Joe Jr., John and Robert. Ernest Hemingway is said to have propped up Lynford's Royal Wellingtonia bar with Sir James Calder, in the 1930s. Joe Kennedy Snr. was the United States ambassador to Great Britain at the time.

Hemingway described shooting on the estate as "like sucking the core out of a fig." It is noteworthy that Hemingway's gradual decline into madness began soon after he left Norfolk for the last time.

Lynford was gutted by fire in the 1920s destroying the east wing of the building, (which has yet to be replaced). There are still many signs of the fire, the most obvious being that the third floor window surrounds now stand proud of the roof.

The government used the Hall as a hospital during WW2. Some carved names can still be found in trees on the grounds from this period. The estate house was also used by American forces during World War II, and they installed a hot water central heating system for the main building. The forestry commission bought the Hall and used it as a training school until the 1960s. By this time the house was poorly maintained and overgrown. In 1960, the house was leased to Peter Widdowson, who, with a partner from London, made some repairs to the house and grounds, operating it as an apartment building, hotel and public house. Later, the Forestry Commission sold the house to John Haire, Baron of Whiteabbey but kept the estate lands which now make up a large part of Thetford Forest.

It was bought by Gerald F. Rand in 1970 who converted the house into a private home cum motel, with function facilities. He also developed a mobile home park to the east of the house with some 40 plots. During his ownership the BBC filmed several programmes there, including Dad's Army, 'Allo 'Allo!, and You Rang, M'Lord?. After 25 years Rand sold the property, complete with businesses, in the mid-1990s.

Lynford has been a hotel and conference center for some years now and has been described by A.C. Grayling as "the Cliveden of the East".