North Cottage Cromer welcomes local MP

Local MP Steffan Aquarone visits North Cottage Cromer

We were thrilled to welcome the Member of Parliament for North Norfolk, Steffan Aquarone, MP (Liberal Democrat) to North Cottage last week.

He’d come to see the house for himself because he’d mentioned North Cottage and us, by name, in his maiden Coastal Communities debate held in the Commons Chamber, Westminster, in March. We featured in a list of highlights along his constituency’s coastline because we’d just been awarded Self Catering Accommodation of the Year in the Visit Suffolk and Norfolk Tourism Awards.

As he arrived Steff told us he must have walked past the house dozens of times while visiting Cromer’s North Lodge Park, but he’d never ever noticed there was a house here. His reaction is very common for people familiar with Cromer visiting the house for the first time. North Cottage really is a secret house, tucked away in a quiet corner behind high flint walls and tall gates. It is almost un-noticeable from the park.

Fascinating History Tour of North Cottage

Steff was fascinated to tour the house and discover its history. He loved hearing the main stairs face the back of the house, because the back was originally the front when it was built as the schoolmaster’s cottage in 1873. It was the wealthy Hoare family who almost doubled the size of the house after buying it in 1895. They added 4 rooms to create the new front of the house. The Hoare family also owned North Cottage’s ‘twin’ building North Lodge just across the park.

We explained today’s North Lodge Park was once the estate belonging to the two houses, but was sold to Cromer Urban District Council in 1928 for £5,500. The purchase was funded with a grant from the Education Board who were creating outside spaces after WW1. It opened as a public park in May 1929.

The Goldsmith’s Company owned the land (that is now the park) before the Hoare family. The Company wanted to sell plots to wealthy people to build grand villas. The plan failed. It’s just as well or there would be no park today.

We showed Steff the architect’s drawing in the excellent book the History Of North Lodge Park. We also described Louise Hoare’s two slim memoirs written about the house, and how Cromer dramatically changed in the almost 60 years she lived there. She owned North Cottage after her father’s death in 1901 until her own death around 1960.

North Lodge Park and its future?

We also talked to Steff about the future of North Lodge Park. We’ve worked hard to conserve North Cottage, which is an important part of the park’s history. We wondered what could be done for the park? The local council has done almost nothing to it for decades. The gardening is done by a team of volunteers who receive no funding at all from the Council.

We said we’d heard there is grant funding available to preserve open spaces for recreational use. He promised he would have a think about that.

A Minister for Coastal Communities?

Steff Aquarone advocated in the House of Commons Coastal Communities debate (20th March, 2025) that a Minister was needed to represent coastal communities. Huge swathes of the population live near the coast, but they’re widely and thinly dispersed. These can be deprived areas where vital resources like health care is in short supply and health outcomes are worse than for those who live inland.

The environment in coastal areas is also at risk. From coastal erosion, climate change, and other damaging factors such as sewage pollution and bringing wind energy ashore. Meanwhile beaches must be preserved. There are economic challenges too. Along the coast a higher proportion of workers are self-employed and sole traders and that can produce economic hardship.

In his Commons speech Steff also pointed to the huge contribution the coast makes to tourism. He picked out some highlights – and that’s where we got a very surprising mention in Parliament!

“The excellent North Cottage in Cromer, run by Andrea and Jerry, was recently awarded self-catering accommodation of the year at the Suffolk and Norfolk Tourism Awards.’

Steff was critical of second homes that sit empty for much of the year. He hopes the additional council tax raised on these properties will be used for much needed affordable and emergency housing. He does support holiday lets, as they can bring welcome tourism to North Norfolk, but he believes a registration scheme is required now to ensure safety for guests. We agreed that we would support registration of holiday lets, as long as the registration fee wasn’t just another tax we’d have to pass on to our guests.

Steff concluded his speech in the Commons debate “Let us remember what the coastal communities have given to us. Today we can come together and make sure that we give back to them, protect them, and let them create many more memories for generations to come”.

An Exciting Day!

We didn’t expect to find a visit from the local MP exciting, but it was! It was also the 80th Anniversary of VE Day and we knew Steff had come from the earlier service in Mundesley. He has a very busy schedule. We were unsurprised to discover he has to turn down 4 out of 5 invitations, so we were thrilled he came to North Cottage.

We found Steff to be a good listener, knowledgeable and above all very likeable. The hour that he was with us flew by, and even over-ran a little. “That always seems to happen” he said as he glanced at his watch.

He told us he was enjoying being an MP (Steff was elected MP for the first time at the General Election, July 2024) and because there were so many new MPs it was an exciting time. Real change to the way things have ‘always been done’ was possible with so much new blood in Westminster.

After posing for a few photos outside in the park, Steff left for his next appointment. We asked him to keep in touch about North Lodge Park.

Links:
Coastal Communities Debate House of Commons 20th March 2025 https://www.parallelparliament.co.uk/mp/steff-aquarone/debate/2025-03-20/commons/commons-chamber/coastal-communities

History of North Lodge Park Book https://northlodgepark.org.uk/the-park-before-the-park/

Louise Hoare ‘Six Generations Memoir’ https://www.cromerdictionary.co.uk/sixgenerations.html

History of North Cottage Cromer https://www.northcottagecromer.co.uk/history/