Hoste Barn

Norfolk May 2025

We are regular visitors to Norfolk, a great county in which to pursue our hobbies of Birding and Photography.  We chose to stay in Hoste Barn, having looked for holiday properties in North Norfolk .  What a find Hoste Barn was and what a delight to be near such a wonderful garden.  Paul and Sian were great hosts and very welcoming. We took up their offer to wander through their amazing garden. 

Every day of our holiday we visited a birdwatching site and many, many photographs were taken!  So many fabulous places to visit but our favourites were:

Strumpshaw Fen

A lovely reserve, caught sight of an Otter fishing and a Kingfisher likewise!  Sightings of Cranes, Bittern and Marsh Harriers were also wonderful to see.

Hickling Broad Norfolk WT

The highlight here was the beautiful Swallowtail Butterfly, a first sighting for us and a thrill to see.  The Swallowtail, the UK’s largest butterfly,  is found only in Norfolk and it’s where their main source of food, Milk Parsley,  grows.  The Swallowtail eggs are laid on the plant ready for the caterpillars to feed on.  The Broad has so much to see during May.  We took a boat ride onto the Broad (arranged by NWT) , a lovely quiet and peaceful ride across the water and into the little channels.   Whilst in Hickling we saw Marsh Harriers, Bittern, Common Cranes, Red Footed Falcons and Common Terns to name but a few. 

Norfolk Wildlife Trust  Cley-Next-the-Sea  

This is a particular favourite place. Many waders are here but the highlight of our sightings were the Temmicks Stints, Knot and Spoonbill. Thirty eight species were spotted here.

Wroxham

Norfolk Broads electric boat trip – Broad Tours Electric Day Boat Hire 

Once you get used to the controls (it’s easy) it was a lovely way to spend a day.  We took a picnic with us and moored at Ranworth for lunch.  (Ranworth is also worth a visit) We journeyed on to St Benet’s Abbey before turning back down the River Bure to Wroxham.  Seeing a family of Swans with cygnets on the mum’s back was such a lovely sight and I was delighted to get a few photos.

Horsey

We cannot come to Norfolk without seeing the seals!  Always a delight to see and it’s almost always guaranteed that several seals will be on the beach.  Just along from Horsey Windpump is Poppylands Cafe – a 1940’s themed eaterie with lots of memorabilia and knitted ‘Dad’s Army’ tea cosies! 

In total we were privileged to see 93 different species of birds during our stay. 

We had a wonderful holiday and Hoste Barn was a perfect base. 

Kay Ingamells 

Instagram @kaybirder

After the first beautiful and warm week in Norfolk all the spring flowers are beginning to appear. The perfect time to book an early break at Hoste Barn

Start of a new year and a chance to revisit our website which would benefit from a tidy. We have added a ‘Book now’ button for easy booking. We have added more fast display panels on the homepage to better illustrate the features of Hoste barn. We are aware that many people like to browse and book on their mobile device so that has been upgraded too. Hope you enjoy the changes.

ROSE Awards

The ROSE (Recognition Of Service Excellence) Awards recognise accommodation businesses who truly go the extra mile for their guests.

Designed to showcase those establishments that provide the warmest of welcomes, we are very proud to have received this award for 2023.

We have always striven to look after our guests at Hoste Barn and this point has been reflected in the many comments we have received in our Guest Feedback. However we were delighted to see this had also been recognised by VisitEngland.