Lynford Hall

Lynford Hall hotel was built in 1871 by William Burne in the Neo-Jacobean style.

The house was built by the banker Stephen Lyne-Stephens, the wealthiest commoner in the country at the time. He was married to the glamorous French ballerina Pauline Duvernay.

Regular guest included Joe Kennedy, the then US ambassador to the UK. He was often accompanied on his visits by his sons Joe jnr, JFK and RFK. Ernest Hemingway is said to have propped up Lynford's Royal Wellingtonia bar with Sir James Calder, whose grace and favour home Lynford was in the 30's. Calder was the UK ambassador to the US at the time.

Hemingway described shooting on the estate as 'like sucking the core out of a fig'1 and it is noteworthy that his gradual decline into madness began soon after he left Norfolk for the last time.

Lynford has been a hotel for some years now and has been described by A.C.Grayling as 'the Cliveden of the East'2.

1 From the now defunct Ipswich Courier, 13th May 1932, available on microfiche in the Ipswich Public Record Office

2 From his book 'On the Meaning of Leisure', OUP 1992

www.lynfordhallhotel.co.uk