About Us

Kett Country Cottages offer a choice of quality holiday cottages around North Norfolk. Our properties are privately owned second homes and many are used by the owners as a home from home.

All properties are personally inspected by us to ensure that quality is maintained. Our experienced staff are familiar with each property as well as the local area so are able to answer any questions you may have. Our aim is to provide a personal service to make your choice the ideal holiday in Norfolk.

Kett Country Cottages are members of the East of England Tourist Board. Most of our properties have been inspected as part of the EETB quality assurance programme and a star rating has been awarded as an indication as to the standard of the accommodation. For those properties that have not been inspected by the EETB , we have awarded oak leaves based upon knowledge of the standards required by the EETB.

Kett Country Cottages provide a short guide to the area in each cottage along with any information about the house itself which may be useful to you during your stay. Please see our links page for information about the area. It is said that if you visit Norfolk you will want to stay. Beware, you may get hooked and return again and again.

Quality Grading

Kett Country Cottages are members of the East of England Tourist Board. Some of our properties have been inspected as part of the EETB quality assurance programme and a star rating has been awarded as an indication as to the standard of the accommodation. For those properties that have not been inspected by the EETB, we have awarded oak leaves based upon the knowledge of standards required by the EETB.

Easier Access

A number of cottages have at least one bedroom and bathroom or shower on the ground floor.

Why Kett?

In 1549, the year of Kett's Rebellion, the King of England, Edward VI, was an eleven-year-old boy. The real power was in the hands of Protector Somerset, an ambitious man but with a reputation for reform and some sympathy for the poor. It was a time of change, uncertainty and unrest. The government had introduced Protestant reforms in the church, prices were rising and taxation was increasing. Furthermore the country was at war with France and Scotland. But in Norfolk, the chief causes of hardship and discontent were economic and social. Here there was much rent raising, but above all the enclosure of common land by the local gentry, which threatened the livelihood of many of the peasantry.

There had been widespread disorders and rioting in many counties during the Spring and Summer of 1549. This mainly took the form of destroying the hedges and fences recently erected by local landlords. However it was only in Norfolk that the peasantry discovered a leader of outstanding quality. The name of Robert Kett is inseparably linked with the rebellion in Norfolk.

In 1549, Robert Kett was 57 years old, a relatively old age for the 16th Century. He was the fourth son of Tom and Margery Kett whose family had lived in the area since the Norman Conquest. Though a tanner by trade, by 1549 he was one of the main landowners in Wymondham, owning three manors in the area with a yearly income of £50. He was also closely associated with the Abbey Church at Wymondham . He was a pillar of the local community, married with five sons, prominent in agrarian, commercial and religious life, secure, prosperous and law abiding. Yet he became the leader of a movement whose main activities threatened the property owing, relatively prosperous class which he himself represented.

Why Kett became the champion of the poor common people is unclear. Perhaps he was moved by their plight; perhaps it was a vision of a better Norfolk; perhaps it was the long-standing rivalry with John Flowerdew which flared up again in 1549. Certainly the people of Norfolk had found a leader with remarkable gifts. Kett made it clear that he was not rebelling against the government in London, but that he was disillusioned with the local government in Norfolk, and it was this which he sought to reform. His petition to Edward VI was politely phrased and throughout the rebellion he acted with restraint and moderation. He refused to accept that he was a rebel and naively believed that the government in London would support his desire to reform the local government in Norfolk. However, by Tudor standards Kett was a rebel and a traitor and met his end later that year.

For six weeks from 9 July 1549, Kett dominated the affairs of the county of Norfolk. He led an orderly march to Norwich, then England's second city. He established an orderly camp on Mousehold Heath where he was joined by about 20,000 men from all over Norfolk. He displayed firm leadership throughout the dramatic and stirring events of the rebellion. He obtained free access to Norwich and involved the city authorities in his programme of reform. He led a successful attack on the city on 22 July 1549, defeated one royal army on 1 August 1549 and severely mauled another, which was larger than the first, on 24 - 25 August 1549. The final defeat came at the Battle of Dussindale on 27 August 1549 when nearly 3,000 of Kett's men were killed. Kett himself was captured the next day. Robert Kett and his brother William were taken to the Tower of London and imprisoned while awaiting trial. They were found guilty of treason on 29 November 1549 and then taken back to Norwich. William Kett was hanged at the West Tower on Wymondham Abbey and Robert Kett was hanged at Norwich Castle on 7th December 1549.