The Suffield Arms was built in 1886 by Lord Suffield for the workers on the Gunton Estate. It was originally in a row of cottages in Suffield Village but later relocated opposite Gunton station. The station was built in 1876 for Lord Suffield, who lived at nearby Gunton Hall, a close friend of the Prince of Wales and a major investor in the original East Norfolk Railway which built the line from Norwich to Cromer.
The interior features a diverse mix of modern and traditional artworks. Read more below.
The decoration of the main bar is new but designed to feel 19th Century, with reclaimed floor tiles (‘paments’), William Morris curtains dating from the 1870’s, and old panelling forming the long bar.
The ceiling is Anaglypta, one of the oldest wall coverings brands (dating from 1887) and the paint throughout the building has been aged and patinated by master craftsman Shaun Lovering, in an attempt to enhance the 19th Century atmosphere of the building.
The corridor is stencilled AMERICAMNESIA by Runo Lagomarsino, (executed by Ashley Thorp). Lagomarsino, who is based in Brazil, was born in Sweden to Argentine parents who descended from Italian emigres. His interest in the legacy of transatlantic migration intersects with his own biography. This particular work has the implication that US citizens think of ‘America’ as the U.S.A, forgetting that America was home to indigenous peoples and that the whole continent of South/Latin America exists and has a reality as valid as the America of the American Dream.
The Gunton Arms is situated in the one thousand acre deer park which surrounds Gunton Hall near Cromer in Norfolk. The park was created in the early 18th Century by the Harbord family and was comparable in scale to the great estates to the west, Holkham and Houghton. The Park evolved over a 150 year period with a succession of great landscape architects being employed: Charles Bridgman, Humphrey Repton, Gilpin and Teulon.
The Gunton Arms, originally Steward’s Farm, became the second house to Gunton Hall; and during the 1890s a frequent visitor was Lillie Langtry, actress, famous beauty, and mistress of the future King Edward VII. In the 20th Century the park declined into ruin, buildings were sold, the land ploughed up and the woods cut down. In 1982, rescue came in the person of Kit Martin, who along with Charles Harbord-Hamond and Ivor Braka succeeded in buying back much of the land and the buildings. In 2007 the park won the ‘Genius of the Place’ Country Life / Savills award for the best restoration of a historic landscape.
The Gunton Arms is a traditional pub with 16 bedrooms in an extensive historic park near Cromer in North Norfolk. The chef Stuart Tattersall (ex head chef at Mark Hix) cooks from local ingredients including venison from the surrounding deer park.
The Gunton Estate is a working estate full of Deer native to the UK
Gunton Estate and Suffiled Arms Links
