House & Family History: Hunstanton is a moated Elizabethan house with Jacobean ranges of 1623 (faced in flint and crenellated) in each direction. The range to the right of the Gatehouse was gutted by a serious fire in 1950 (the House also suffered from a bad fire almost a 100 years earlier, in 1853). Today, standing in the courtyard, is the porch of the Elizabethan house, which was burned in the 1853 and is now free-standing. In the 19th century additions were made to the northwest wing, which incorporated some 14th century walling. Hunstanton Hall was the ancient seat of the La Strange family, whose last member, Sir Henry L'Estrange, 6th Bt., died in 1760. After Sir Henry's death the Estate passed through the female line to the Styleman family, who took the name of Le Strange 1839. The House was sold off from the Estate (which remains in the family) in 1949. Hunstanton Hall was sold into divided ownership, together with the outbuildings, which are now also in separate ownership. The author P.G. Wodehouse counted Hunstanton Hall among his favorite spots; he stayed at the House many times in the Interwar Years as the guest of his friend Charles Le Strange and later rented it for his own use. Hunstanton is the fictional setting for Wodehouse's novel "Money for Nothing"; he also uses the Octagon on the grounds of Hunstanton in many of his books. It appears as a folly on the grounds of Woollam Chersey, Aunt Agatha's country house (the formidable aunt of Bertie Wooster) in "Jeeves and the Impending Doom." Norfolk itself is the source of many names of Wodehouse's fictional characters: Lord Brancaster, J. Sheringham Adair, and Jack Snettisham. L.P. Hartley knew Hunstanton and the surrounding area well from his childhood holidays and used it as a setting for "The Shrimp and the Anemone," the first novel in his trilogy.

Garden & Outbuildings: There is a two-story brick Gatehouse with battlements and stone quoins of circa 1500.

Country Life: LIX, 552, 586, 1926.

House Listed: Grade I

Park Listed: Grade II

Past Seat / Home of: Ralph FitzHerluin, 11th century. Sir Henry L'Estrange, 6th Bt., 18th century. Styleman family (changed name to Le Strange in 1839). P.G. Wodehouse, 20th century.

Current Ownership Type: Flat Owners Company / Condo Association

Primary Current Ownership Use: Flats / Multi Family

Ownership Details: Divided into three homes.

House Open to Public: No

Historic Houses Member: No