A Georgian Country House on England's Norfolk Coast

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Most American golfers heading to England picture St Andrews or a week chasing an Open Championship venue. Few know that an hour and a half from London, along a stretch of coastline locals call the "English Riviera," sits a genuine 18th-century Georgian estate — the kind of quintessential English country house usually reserved for period dramas, not golf trips.

The Grove, in the seaside town of Cromer, was built roughly 250 years ago and has been run by the Graveling family as a guest house since 1936. Ivy climbs its brick facade, the gravel drive sweeps past daffodils in spring, and four acres of private grounds run down through woodland to the clifftop and the beach beyond.

A Working Kitchen Garden

The estate grows a fair share of what it serves. Head Chef Sean O'Callaghan draws on the property's own greenhouse and vegetable beds for The Garden Rooms restaurant, and the seafood doesn't travel far either — Cromer crab, lobster and prawns come from a coastline you can see from the garden.

Sundown, After Dark

On the front lawn, a pair of canvas tipis make up Sundown, the estate's more relaxed restaurant — wood-fired pizzas and Norfolk-inspired small plates by day, and by evening, festoon lights and long, unhurried dinners under the trees.

Easily Combined with a Trip to The Open

For golfers already planning a trip to England for The Open Championship, North Norfolk is an easy add-on rather than a detour — and a striking contrast to it. Royal Cromer and Sheringham sit right on this stretch of coast, both a world away from the crowds of a major championship, and The Grove makes the ideal base between rounds.

North Norfolk's growing reputation as a stay-and-play destination is exactly why The Grove has become the answer we give American guests most often.

It's a rare thing to find a property with this much genuine history that hasn't been turned into a museum piece — The Grove still feels lived-in, warm and unmistakably a family home first, hotel second.