Park House Farm

A Memory of Snettisham.

My wife and I spent one year ( circa 1953 ) living in an apartment at Park House Farm where Tony Warner raised sugar beets and pigs. The Manor House was built on a Roman foundation which then formed the basement of the building. I was stationed at Sculthorpe AFB in Fakenham. I joined the local rifle team in Snettisham sponsored by the Queen's husband, Prince Philip. Their residence, Sandringham, was within walking distance. When our team won a major match, Prince Phillip gave me a basket of fruit and invited me to go shooting with him.
While living there the ploughman dug up a golden torque that now resides in the British Museum. I did some digging in the field in back of the Manor House myself and found a few Saxon odds and ends but I didn't go deep enough. A few years later an RAF officer went over the same area with a metal detector and found the Snettisham Treasure. Great town, great experience. My wife did some research at St. Mary's and learned that Pochahontas had stayed at Park House with her husband, John Rolfe, when they returned from Virginia to sell a boatload of tobacco. It was ironic that he had gone to Virginia to seek his fortune when so much gold and silver was buried just a few hundred feet away from the house. Incidentally, Tony Warner - our landlord - was related to Lord Nelson and he was also the youngest British Naval Officer to have served during the Second World War. A really terrific fellow.
Across the stream from our house was Ingoldisthorpe Manor where my wife and I often went for dinner and drinks in the evening or to play tennis during the day. It was next to an old Norman church and ancient cemetery. The Queen Mother often came to Snettisham in her chauffeur-driven limousine to go shopping. She never had any security guards with her and she used to walk down the street like any other citizen with a cheerful greeting to anyone she saw. Those days must be gone forever.