Historic hotel with Churchill link marks a milestone

It is allegedly the site of one of the most important phone calls in British naval history.

And now the Grade II-listed Sea Marge Hotel in Overstrand is about to mark a milestone - 25 years under its current owners, Marc and Liz Mackenzie.

Mr Mackenzie said the timing was fitting, as September 18 was also National Hospitality Day.

He said: "We’re proud to be doing our bit in welcoming visitors to our corner of Norfolk."

Winston Churchill was said to be a frequent visitor to Overstrand as his father rented a house in the village.

It is said he used the telephone at the building, which later became the Sea Marge, to mobilise the British Navy at the start of the First World War, when he was First Lord of the Admiralty.

The half-timbered structure was built in 1908 as a country home for Sir Edgar Speyer, who, when the war started, was accused of signalling to German submarines from its clifftop grounds. Later on during the conflict he fled with his family to New York, never to return.