Charity Leap Year Dinner

Thursday 29th February 2024 seemed like a special day to host an amazing charity dinner for EducatePeru- a charity run by an amazing Saxlingham Nethergate resident, Jill Bignell. We called it the Leap Year Dinner and made tickets available for local residents. With only 26 spots available, it fantastically sold out in 24 hours.

Jackie manned the red Land Rover and picked up a number of the attendees (and was on hand to take everyone home at the end of the evening).

EducatePeru used the evening to raise funds to equip “Edie’s Home”, a refuge for abused children in Pachutec, Lima. Jill gave everyone a build update on Edie’s Home (over some wonderful pre-dinner drinks from Kayla) which included an excellent slide-show and some seriously good Pina-coladas!

Elsewhere’s Executive Chef, Theo Michaels, created a wonderful South American inspired 5 course dinner, including Seabass Ceviche with Salmon Caviar followed by a Pisco Sour Granita, palate cleanser. After the Peruvian Dark Chocolate Ganache, Theo gave a little after dinner speech about his time on Master Chef and the journey that he has been on with Elsewhere.

As well as raising an incredible £1,000 for Edie’s Home, attendees “godparented” 3 more children for the school out in Peru – which means that they go to school, all day, for free (state schools in Peru offer half a day only).

Thank you to everyone for coming and for the huge fundraising effort. All in all it couldn't have gone better- and although it was a Leap Year, we don’t want to wait 4 years for the next one :)

Winter Wonderland in Saxlingham Nethergate 2023

So what was the big idea?

There was something for everyone - and all ages are catered for - so it’s an inclusive village event.

It’s a way for us to properly open the doors of Hill House to local residents. We’ve been trying for a while and decided it was time to take the reindeer by the antlers and put something on.

And it was a great way for Darren (the owner) to introduce the house, for local friends and families to have a great time and for us to answer any questions you may have over a mince pie.

On offer in 2023:

• Father Christmas and presents (for children up to 12 years old)

• Mince pies, teas and coffees, soft drinks, mulled wine

• The chocolate waterfall

• Pixie burgers and Wenceslas pizzas (deep-pan, crisp and even)

• Santa’s shooting range (shoot the Golden Brussels Sprouts!)

• Charity stalls and house tours

• Singing and entertainment

• Games room (free-play arcade, pool, air hockey and table tennis)

Our day was a huge success and over the course of a long day- 200 local Saxlingham residents came by to spend time together on the run up to Christmas.

Our red Land Rover ‘Christmas sleigh’, pick up and drop off service had brilliant take up (lots of people also walked over).

40 children got to meet Father Christmas and everyone enjoyed Kayla’s Pixie burgers and mini-pizzas.

We raised over £300 for charity and the amazing gingerbread house found it’s new home for Christmas!

We’re 100% game on for Winter Wonderland 2024… it was a complete joy!

Our Upgraded Dining Room; Courtesy of Heath Kane

The Hill House dining room seats up to 24 people and after it’s recent refresh- it’s a place to work, eat and play.

Every year we invite an artist to come and stay and create some artwork for future guests to enjoy. This year we are excited to have Heath Kane as our artist in residence. We also used Heath’s stay as a deadline to repaint the dining room- what an upgrade and what amazing artwork from Heath.

Heath has a gallery in Saffron Walden, has collaborated with a number of high profile brands and has an incredible website- go check it out…….

www.heathkane.co.uk

Elsewhere: Introducing 'The UnCorporate Offsite'

Hill House is where it all began. Our club house and the start of our big journey in 2007.

We learnt how to look after guests, run events and generally find a new, creative and fun approach to group stays. For us, great functionality was the starting point and it needed something way more….. a soul.

And service… great service. Where the extra-mile comes as standard. A focus on the experience and time spent at Hill House and not just the property alone.

As the founder of Hill House Norfolk, I came with a business background and knew all too well that corporate events could be very dry and uninspiring.

Why would we spend months looking forward to a holiday and travel for hours to get there but for corporate events everything had to be less than an hour from the office? And then for attendees to start figuring out what the event was all about the night before.

We believe that somethings are worth travelling for and in the corporate space most offsite meetings weren't making the grade.

Elsewhere was born from all of our Hill House experiences and learning and we knew early on that we needed to specialise in corporate stays, a new type of team away day or conference, something that really fired everyone up and brought everyone together.

In a world of functional spaces we could bring something new and exciting to the party, inject some X factor and the Elsewhere- ‘The UnCorporate Offsite’ moniker was born.

Elsewhere is now in it’s 12th year and has gone from strength to strength. Take a look at our website to see how things have continued to grow way beyond Hill House and we’ve built a client base that’s second to none.

With that all in mind however, Hill House will always be the heart of it all…… where it all started…… our spiritual home.

Darren.

www.elsewhere-offsites.com

Never Wipe The Fun Away - Hill House Games Room

We’ve been collecting original arcade machines at Hill House for many years and this post was definitely inspired by a line in a recent TripAdvisor review (so thanks to Tim for reviewing us).

“The games room …is exceptional, it was like stepping back into all your yesterdays, from the space invaders game machine, through to the Star Wars pinball, pool, to the air hockey and more. I think we lost three teenagers in there for the weekend.”

We’ve got quite a collection now and thought it was about time we talk about the games room a little more….

A few years ago now, we invited an amazing street artist to come over from Germany and he painted the games room with some incredible life-sized paintings. One of them reveals the words ‘Never Wipe The Fun Away’ when you shine a UV light on it. It’s very cool and we’re so grateful to Kunstrasen for staying with us for a week to paint them.

We love collecting these original machines. We love playing them. And Devon from the team currently holds the high score on Sega Rally- so there’s your challenge- to knock Devon off the top spot.

Some of the machines are getting on for 30 years old, which means they can often be a labour of love to keep them in great playable condition, but we think it’s worth it. And even before you play on them… they look so cool.

Our guests love the games room. Here’s the current line-up:

Sega Out Run

Sega Rally 2

Sega Star Wars Pinball

Pac-Man and Donkey Kong

Table-top Space Invaders

Air Hockey

Pool Table

…so far.

By that we mean it’s quite an addictive hobby and we’ve already spotted a place for one more :)

Pen Drawings by Chantelle Bell

This years art project was created by Chantelle Bell.

Chantelle is a freelance illustrator based in Berlin who favours creating hard drawn personalised maps. Her illustrations meticulously recreate items and scenery.

Chantelle worked on a map (to include our 6 acres for when we have events in our field), a pencil drawing of the Hill House logo and also a sketch of the Manor.

We absolutely love what Chantelle has created and we will shortly get it framed for future guests at the house to enjoy.

Check out Chantelle here: www.chantellebell.com

Christmas at Hill House

Hill House is a special place over Christmas.

We put up the Christmas decorations for all of December - so guests can enjoy as much time as possible in the run up to Christmas. Here’s a gallery for 2021.

And like everything else at Hill House, we keep adding and evolving each year…

Unlocked: Virtual Events by Elsewhere

Bringing teams back together is important for culture and business needs, whilst remaining safe is paramount.

In order to meet our corporate clients needs in 2020 we have created a suite of virtual events utilising live production at Hill House Norfolk, in conjunction with boxes that are sent out to participants homes prior to the event.

We’ve been running Uncorporate offsites for over a decade and have imagined Unlocked for our clients needs whilst we were in lockdown.

Hosted at Hill House Norfolk. It’s your own production set with Tudor Manor and 6 acres. We’ve got fixed, mobile and headcams in operation and a small team socially distancing on the ground. Using our professional streaming equipment and with your team accessing us remotely, we’ve come together safely for a big event that will leave a lasting impression.

Bringing together our physical venue for live filming and a box sent out to each participant ahead of the event enables us to create an exclusive remote experience for our corporate clients.

(Event production subject to COVID alert levels)

Unlocked events have the same Elsewhere values of creativity, fun and attention to detail, whilst Unlocking the challenge of bringing teams together in a world of social distancing.

With smaller physical events more likely over time, Unlocked helps our clients manage the different phases of coronavirus and reconnect WFH teams in a fun and stylish way.

Come Together. Stay Safe. Go Elsewhere.

www.elsewhere-unlocked.com

SHARE at Hill House Norfolk

Theo has launched his brand new cookbook today. It’s called SHARE and Theo was at Hill House last night to do a photoshoot and book signing.

Theo Michaels is Hill House’s Executive Chef and he works throughout Elsewhere, at our other venues and our Summer and Christmas events.

Our food philosophy is all about sharing and we have captured this in our Norfolk Feast dining experience and our big grazing tables. Groups use the impressive dining room or eat al fresco and are brought together with big sharing menus.

More on SHARE:

Here you will discover delicious food, presented with maximum visual appeal and designed to be shared by a group of people. Theo has been presenting his creative cooking this way at events of all sizes and styles for some time, his aim to create an interactive and relaxed dining experience that brings people together. Now he brings his unique vision to your home. Downsized to feed six to eight people and easily achievable, these exciting sharing menus are perfect for modern, communal eating. The book opens with a sharing board comprised of bought-in deli-style foods to get you started, with expert pointers on how to create a visually stunning presentation. Next, each of the themed boards is dedicated to one concept and features recipes as well as suggestions for aromatic and edible garnishes to help you create a feast for the eyes, senses and taste buds. Menus include a relaxed brunch, a summer picnic, a harvest celebration, an indulgent feast, treats to satisfy a sweet tooth, plus plenty for vegans, pescatarians and meat-lovers.

Amazon Link:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Share-Delicious-Sharing-Boards-Social/dp/1788792114

Pop-up Bedroom #10

The newest creation at Hill House is our Pop-up Bedroom #10.

In a previous life it was a room dedicated just to dogs. Whilst amazing - it wasn’t getting used all the time.

Now the downstairs room is fully furnished with curtains and can be set up as either a downstairs bedroom with up to 2 single beds (or a double), a chill out space with bean bags (perfect for kids) or back to the original dog room with dog beds - it’s really up to you and your needs.

And like all Hill House rooms there’s been real attention to detail and a number of creative touches.

If you use it as a bedroom, you will have a space downstairs for up to 2 guests. This can also work very well for any guests that you have that need a ground floor bedroom without the stairs.

The room is there for your needs, so please get in touch and let us know how you would like it set.

Kunstrasen - Our Artist In Residence 2019

Never Wipe The Fun Away

This years Hill House artist in residence has been Kunstrasen and we were honoured to have him stay. He flew over from Germany to be with us for a week over the Easter holidays.

Kunstrasen is a German stencil artist who derives his name from the German term for astroturf. In addition to a sly bit of wordplay, kunst=art and rasen=speeding in German, his chosen moniker is relevant to lots of questions in the art world today, relating to issues of authenticity, mimicry, and mass production.

Not only did he kindly bring 3 new canvases for us to adorn the walls of newly created bedroom 9 (one included his last ever spot remover that will ever be made) but he also painted 3 walls for us. Amazing!

We picked the games rooms as the room most needing a little refresh and by chance has astro turf for carpet. So it all seemed to make sense…

Here’s his legendary spot remover in the games room and there’s another 2 amazing walls for guests to find and enjoy. And our big spot remover has a fantastic twist to it - just turn on the UV lights that sit underneath to illuminate the line “Never wipe the fun away” - a line that’s so so true but very easy to forget.

They’re simply spectacular and it’s been a joy. Thank you Kunstrasen- it’s been an absolute pleasure to have you stay. Safe flight home.

Swing Grill BBQ

Now that we’re firmly into Spring, we do like to get excited about our big swing grill BBQ menu. It really is a sight to behold. The grill is beautifully suspended on top of the coals and a crank handle base adjusts the height of the BBQ grill to modulate the cooking heat.

“We love the theatre of using our swing grill BBQ at events. Guests are always blown away by it….This amazing BBQ is a centre piece to any event, and delivers all the Wow we could ask for!”

Theo and Darren from the Elsewhere food team have put their thinking caps on and have come up with a terrific new menu to make the most of this incredible BBQ.

Set in the stunning grounds of Hill House, our BBQ is a chance to kick back outside and enjoy food straight off the stunning swing-grill.

Choose from 3 of these amazing dishes

-Norfolk whiskey and local honey glazed baby back ribs with chipotle rock salt

-Spicy Norfolk turkey wings with coriander yoghurt dressing

-Orange and lime marinated spatchcockchicken with devilled red ginger jam

-Lemongrass beef skewers with spiced cashew nut satay sauce

-Jumbo shell on butterfly prawn skewers with jalapeño picode gallosalsa

-Harissa cauliflower steaks served with apple tomato salsa

They are all served with some wonderful salads; rainbow coleslaw, fresh green leaves salad, tomato blue cheese rocket salad and baskets of artisan breads.

For desserts the team brings you a fruit salad with Greek yoghurt and honey along with the lip-smacking lemongrass marshmallows with Maltesercrunch ice cream and maple berry glaze

Now that all sounds mouth watering. Bring on Summer!!

Dining at Hill House Norfolk

Staying at Hill House is a special experience, one where memories are made and a chance for friends and family to spend valuable time together. 

With so many things to do, a stay at Hill House can be as relaxing or exciting as you want, but either way, evening meals are a chance for all to come together, enjoy the moment and share in a grand dining experience.  

Here’s a short video introducing our dining room set for 20 ahead of our signature Norfolk Feast. 

Norfolk is home to some of the UK’s best produce and we like to keep it local, sourcing our meats from local butchers from farms in Norfolk to fish caught off the Norfolk coast. 

Great lighting, candles lit, music on, log firing roaring. The Norfolk Feast at Hill House is as supper should be when you’re eating in the dining room of a 16thcentury manor house.

Enjoy your pop-up restaurant experience at Hill House.

Just add friends and family.

id-iom | 2018's Artists In Residency

Our artist in residency programme is now in its third year.

We love inviting exciting artists to come and stay. The artists get some valuable downtime and a chance to get away from it all, hang out with friends and family and hopefully feel a little inspired too. And Hill House guests get some amazing new artwork left behind to enjoy for years to come.....so everyone's a winner!

Wow!!! Hugo and Sholto (the brothers known as id-iom) came to stay this year and boy did they leave behind a treasure trove of goodies for us to find. We've got 2 new garage doors, a new table tennis table, a my way or the highway sign, and a lovely demotivational sign to greet guests on arrival. 

'In wine there is truth, in water there is life' is now emblazoned on the Hill House Norfolk games room doors. We couldn't agree more Id-iom and thanks a million for the matching table tennis table next to it. We love it :)

Fancy a France Wedding Package with a difference? Let’s start in Norfolk…

Getting married in France is a dream for a lot of couples. The fairytale French Chateau wedding, beautiful surroundings, it really is something to be remembered. Have you seen our stunning French Chateau?

However, when you’re not based in France, organising a France wedding package can be challenging and the language barrier may for some be enough to forgo their fairytale French wedding. 

But not on our watch. 

Elsewhere bridges the gap between France wedding packages and the UK. We are a British company, located in England. Our expert French wedding planner, Sam, is currently sitting in our office as I write this post!

We work with couples who want that France wedding package and are located in the UK. One of our key platforms is our beautiful and luxurious 16th century Norfolk country retreat; Hill House. Nestled in stunning green surroundings, it is the quintessentially English country estate, with tennis court, outdoor pizza oven, street art installations (yes, I just said street art installations), 8 bedrooms and an imposing building. 

 It is here that when we are organising a France wedding package that we enjoy hosting our wedding breakfast tasting sessions. 

An intimate experience, our Executive Chef Theo Michaels and Sam, our expert France wedding package planner will join you on a chefs table type of experience. Theo will gain an understanding of the food you like and then a date for your tasting session will be booked. It goes a little like this… 

You arrive at our stunning Norfolk retreat Hill House (or one of our other venues around the UK), sitting together in the country kitchen, a couple of glasses are wine are poured, possibly four. 

Your fiancé, you and Sam sit around the country kitchen island, Theo starts to discuss the food concepts he has been considering. 

This is not just about menu’s it’s about the whole theme, the concept of the dining experience. 

You all sit, chatting, Theo cooking one dish after another on your very own chef’s table. Cooking, plating up and serving several dishes to share and taste, explaining why that dish is being created, the components, and walking though the different dishes one at a time. 

This is all part of the Elsewhere experience of helping to make your special day perfect. 

Life is too short for ordinary.

Love All!

We love group escapes - places to run away to and get away from it all. It's all about being together with friends and family and we've got a wonderful selection of places that will do the trick.

Come and visit our other venues -

The Chateau | The Mayor's House | Anywhere Tipis and Tents all found at our Run For The Hills site.

We're 1 of 4 so if you love Hill House Norfolk, you'll love them all.

Artist In Residence

Eelus came to stay this weekend and we couldn't have been more delighted. He left behind for us these two stunning murals in the garden.

Blow Up measures a whopping 3.5m tall and sits behind the pizza oven area.

And an incredible one-of-a-kind piece runs 8m in length and frames the tennis court rather nicely.

A massive thank you to Eelus for being this years artist in residency. INCREDIBLE !

Theo Cooks

The Hill House wood fired oven can be used for a whole lot more than just pizza.

Watch Theo Micheals cook up a salt crusted lamb shoulder in the Hill House outdoor oven.....

Urban In Norfolk

At Hill House art is one of our passions.

We love urban art and it contrasts really nicely against the 16thC manor and our Norfolk village.

We invite artists to come and stay and leave something behind for all of our future guests. It means that Hill House constantly evolves and there's always something new going on.....

We think the art couldn't be more at home here.

The Big Picture

Run For The Hills is part of a bigger story. We're the venues side of Elsewhere and we're all about bringing people together through extraordinary experiences.

Which simply means you're in safe hands right from the off.....