2 Barge Cottage

It's a pleasant location at the site of an old maltings, now small local businesses. The chalkstream River Nar flows along the edge of a large goose-grazed lawn (though the watercourse isn't readily visible from the house) and there's a mill cut too. There are footpaths nearby allowing local walks without needing a car. The host, Beryl, welcomed us and told us about the history of the site, including that of her family and the restoration work they have done at the mill site. It's a convenient base for exploring west Norfolk, and beyond. Although the property is next to the road there are no windows on that side, so it was quite quiet, and the village is bypassed by the A47 so there's little traffic at night anyway. It was lovely to watch trout in river and swifts flying overhead. A pair of bold muntjac deer wandered across the lawn around 5-6pm each night, despite us and the adjacent neighbours sitting outside in the late afternoon sun! The cottage had everything we needed. WiFi works, but the reception on the Freeserve TV breaks up quite often. There are a few dvds and plenty of books, or you can just sit outside and watch the geese and moorhens

Bed mattresses were a bit firm and tired for my preference, but ok when using my own mattress topper. Floodlights, especially on the business buildings. The frontage of the cottage row is bright all night, unnecessarily so. Take an eye mask if easily disturbed by artificial light at night. Floodlighting the boundary trees and the river is bad for wildlife, especially Daubenton bats, which apparently used to be seen commonly feeding over the river, but now aren't (not surprising as they are more sensitive to light than common pipistrelles). Adjusting the lights so they face flat down instead of angled outward would help to fix the light pollution. Upstairs ceilings are quite low in the old building, not a problem for us, but might be so in places for people well over 6ft.

Clean comfortable has everything we needed

Beautiful location, friendly owners and just what we needed. Really helpful providing and setting up a cot for our baby.

Some of the glasses / egg cups in the cupboard hadn’t been cleaned from the previous stay. The blind in the master bedroom is very thin.

Space

It was all excellent