The White Horse Brancaster Staithe, Norfolk, PE31 8BY

A curvilinear annexe between the inn and the sea is knapped in brick and flint, topped with grass and sedum, and softened by flower-filled terraces, all blending beautifully with the multicoloured marshes behind. There are eight spacious, sea-breezy modern rooms here, set off with ocean colours and mood lighting. One has disabled access and all are posted with a handy guide to this month’s tide tables, so that you don’t get swept to sea while rambling down to Brancaster Beach. Seven more rooms lie above the inn: numbers 12, 14, 15 and 16 face inland and are cheaper, and the plum one is the ‘Room at the Top’, a split-level space high in the eaves, with French windows, a panoramic balcony and a telescope for gazing out piratically to sea. Winter is an especially evocative time for a stakeout, as thousands of pink-footed geese arc overhead.

The roomy annexe bathrooms feel like a real treat, with smellies by Aromatherapy Associates, and there are tea trays and Nespresso machines as standard. If you get really comfortable, room service is available. Better still, order a picnic, borrow binoculars and a birding guide from reception, and set off along the North Norfolk Coast Path to explore the shining foreshore.

There’s digital TV and wireless broadband in all bedrooms.

A local therapist is on call for in-room facials, aromatherapy, even ear-candling and ‘Russian honey massage with cupping’. There’s a price list in your room.

Some nifty additions to the standard bacon and eggs here: salmon, haddock or ham from Letzers’ Norfolk smokehouse to enliven your eggs Benedict perhaps; or fresh-baked croissants and boiled eggs with soldiers if you’re a little less peckish. The same menu is offered to all-comers from 9-11am.

Depending on the season, local cockles, crab, lobster, oysters, mullet, mackerel and sea trout might all surface on head chef Fran Hartshorne’s dazzling menu. If you’re lucky and the tide is right, you may even spy Brancaster Staithe mussel-men Cyril and Ben Southerland hauling home their catch at the foot of the garden. The meat and game is mostly Norfolk-grown too, but dishes are enlivened by many an exotic twist: the scallops might come with curried chickpeas; there’s Israeli couscous with the slow-cooked porchetta; and if you’re unsure what sea purslane is, they gather it on the marshes behind the inn. Pretty much everything is homemade, right down to the delectable lychee and melon sorbets. Fran’s all-day bar menu is scarcely less interesting. Tempura oysters with sweet chilli sauce come singly or by the half-dozen; there’s a terrific paella with Brancaster Staithe mussels and baby squid; plus Norfolk game-and-ale stew and local-venison koftas. Or else plump for a sandwich of curried crayfish or local salt beef, among other fillings.

Brancaster Staithe oysters, natural or tempura

Duo of local rabbit, loin, tortellini, mushroom tea, marmite jus

Letzers smoked cod, Havensfield Farm quail eggs, leeks, Brancaster Staithe sea purslane
Roast loin of venison, local game hotpot, textures of parsnips, Savoy cabbage, coco nib jus
Sticky date and hazelnut pudding, espresso ice cream

At least one roast adds flavour to the menu on Sunday: if you’re really lucky it’ll be Norfolk Red Poll sirloin.

There are one or two tasty week night offers to hook in diners during the autumn and winter. Monday is mussel night, with bumper bowlfuls or mix-and-match platters with four different sauces. Thursday is steak night, with rumps and rib-eyes.

Breakfast: 9am – 11am
Bar menu: 11am – 9pm
Restaurant: 12 noon – 2pm (2.30pm Sundays); dinner 6.15pm – 9pm.

Letzers Seafood & Smokehouse, Ringstead (www.letzersseafood.co.uk)
Havensfield Farm eggs, Hoxne (www.havensfieldeggs.co.uk)
Perfick Pork, Great Ryburgh (www.perfickpork.co.uk)
Mrs Temple’s handmade cheeses, Wighton (01328 820224)
Cyril & Ben’s Brancaster Staithe mussels (harvested at the bottom of the garden)
Richard Loose’s Brancaster Staithe oysters (harvested in the bay)

Two centuries ago Brancaster Staithe was home to England’s biggest maltings, and James Nye revived a long tradition of village alemaking when he developed the range of Brancaster Brewery beers. You’ll find its Best on tap at the White Horse, alongside changing guest ales. The well-rounded wine list runs to 20 reds and 20 whites, 13 by the glass and six by the handy half-bottle. Reading about them is as entertaining as quaffing them – the Billaud-Simon Chablis has a “sucking-on-stones minerality”, say the tasting notes, while the Cote de Provence Rosé is “just as enjoyable in Brancaster Staithe as in St Tropez”.

‘White Horse boards’ are a pick-and-mix affair: snack on Crayfish-and-dill porridge, mushroom-and-leek pasties or smoked-haddock-and-brown-shrimp crumble; or combine them into a distinctively Norfolk tapas platter, eaten out on the sun-deck if the weather smiles. If you just fancy a nibble, there is jalapeno pork crackling or sour-cream cashews.

11am – 11pm (from 12 noon Sunday)