Felbrigg Hall, Gardens and Estate

About the museum

Felbrigg Hall stands in north Norfolk near Cromer. The village name comes from an old Scandinavian word for a plank bridge, and in 1086 the Domesday survey listed the settlement among the holdings of the Bigod family. The present hall grew in stages, starting in Tudor times and reaching its final form centuries later, and it passed through the hands of three main families, the Felbriggs, the Windhams and finally the Kettons.

The house owes much of its character to William Windham II, who in the 1750s created the dining room and the library and had the drawing room remodelled by the architect James Paine in 1751. He also turned a seventeenth-century room into the Cabinet Room to show the pictures and objects he had gathered on his Grand Tour of Europe; it is described by the National Trust as the most complete surviving Grand Tour cabinet in England. The Great Hall keeps stained glass from the fifteenth century, and the Chinese Bedroom has wallpaper imported by the East India Company. Below stairs, the kitchen, with its copper pans, and the turnery show how a large household worked.

The last owner, Robert Wyndham Ketton-Cremer, known as the Squire, devoted his life to preserving Felbrigg. When he died in December 1969 he left the hall, its contents, woods, parkland and farms to the National Trust. Today the hall holds one of the Trust's largest collections, and visitors can also explore the Walled Garden and the free-to-enter estate, which has walking trails, a lake and the Victory V avenue of trees planted at the end of the Second World War.

Highlights

• Great Hall with fifteenth-century stained glass
• Cabinet Room, the most complete Grand Tour cabinet in England
• Library of around 5,000 books, including a copy of Johnson's dictionary
• Chinese Bedroom with hand-painted wallpaper
• Working rooms including the kitchen and the turnery
• Walled Garden and 520-acre estate with lake and woodland

Permanent exhibition

• The hall's historic rooms – Furnished family and service rooms, including the Great Hall, Cabinet Room, Library, Chinese Bedroom, kitchen and turnery.

Operated by

National Trust

Admission & discounts

Prices shown are the standard rates without Gift Aid; paying with Gift Aid adds about 10 per cent. Tickets cover the hall and the Walled Garden. The 520-acre estate is free to visit, although parking is charged for non-members. Entry is free for National Trust members. Visitors who arrive without a car receive 20 per cent off entry and 10 per cent off in the tea-room.

Accessibility

• Partially wheelchair accessible
• Elevator: not available
• Accessible restroom
• Accessible parking
• Service dogs welcome
• Tactile models & exhibits: no information
• Sign language tours: no information
• Easy-to-read materials: no information
• Audio description: no information

The path to the hall entrance is bonded and loose gravel, and parts of the hall and gardens are reached by slight slopes or small steps. The tea-room, second-hand bookshop and food kiosk have step-free access. Powered wheelchairs can enter the hall, but four-wheeled mobility vehicles cannot because of narrow corridors, and the upper floors have stairs only. There are 12 Blue Badge spaces at the front of the main car park and a drop-off point. An accessible toilet with right transfer is near visitor reception. Two manual wheelchairs, three powered mobility vehicles and an all-terrain Tramper can be borrowed (booking possible by phone or email on weekdays). Induction loops are at reception, the shop and the tea-room, and braille and large-print guides to the hall are available. Assistance dogs are welcome in the house and formal gardens.

Kids & families

Great for kids & families

• Family tours & workshops
• Activity booklet, scavenger hunt or kids’ audio guide
• Stroller-friendly
• Baby changing facilities

Children under 5 enter free. Seasonal family trails run in school holidays, such as the Spider Trail at October half-term, and visitors can borrow a Tracker Pack with binoculars and animal-track sheets from the welcome team. There is a den-building area off the Victory V avenue. Baby changing facilities are in the toilets by the Stable Courtyard, breastfeeding is welcome everywhere, hot water for bottles and high chairs are available in the tea-room, and paths in the gardens and parkland are suitable for buggies. Children's picnic bags are sold in the tea-room.

Getting there & parking

The hall is 2 miles from Cromer, off the B1436 and signposted from the A148 and A140. Satnav postcode NR11 8PP. The Weavers' Way long-distance path runs through the estate, and the site is near the North Norfolk Coast Cycleway.

Amenities & dining

• Café
• Museum shop

Squire's Pantry tea-room serves hot and cold drinks, sandwiches, hot dishes, scones and cakes. There is a gift and food shop, a second-hand bookshop, a plant shop in the Stable Courtyard and 10 electric vehicle charging points. Mobile phone signal on site is poor.

Events & venue rental

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Plan your visit