Alas, the tranquillity of the exclusive holiday resort at Fritton Lake has been somewhat disturbed by an extraordinary row involving two neighbours and a small hairless dog named Ziggy.

The dispute, between an actor and his wife and the couple who own the a nearby lodge, has been raging for four years.

The increasingly rancorous feud has drawn in police, lawyers, insurers and even the site's aristocratic owner, who made a fruitless attempt to mediate, and is now at the centre of a £30,000 court case.

The amazing saga has its roots in an incident in mid-2021, two months after John and Mercina Blundell bought a property in the resort, a sprawling 5,000-acre area of countryside surrounding Fritton Lake on the Norfolk-Suffolk border owned by Lord and Lady Somerleyton.

The couple were paying their first visit to their near neighbours, Alison and Andrew Girdiefski, who were proudly showing off renovation work they were having done to their lodge, around 200 metres through woodland from the Blundells. Andrew and Alison Girdiefski holding Ziggy outside their holiday lodge at Fritton Lake (Image: Bruno Brown) It was at this point that Ziggy, the Girdiefskis' excitable Chinese crested dog, enters the story.

As Mrs Blundell was admiring the skylights in her neighbours' lodge, Ziggy bit her on the wrist.

It was enough to break her skin and her husband John - an actor perhaps best known for playing 'Daddy' Pongo Banks in the 1977 film Scum - took her to the James Paget Hospital in Gorleston to have the wound checked out.

The bite resulted in a 1.2cm wound which has left a scar and Mrs Blundell said she was left severely shaken by what had happened. Mrs Blundell's wound from being bitten by Ziggy (Image: Bruno Brown) The Blundells tried to make a claim on the Girdiefskis' pet insurance, but this was eventually rejected because the bite had happened in the owners' home rather than in a public place.

As that process went on, though, the relationship between the couples deteriorated, say the Blundells.

Mrs Blundell claims that when they travelled from their home in London to stay at Fritton - a resort popular with celebrities where lodges cost up to £350,000 - they would face hostility from their Girdiefskis.

“They would sneakily film us, hurl abuse at us," Mrs Blundell said.

"Alison would drive past really slowly, bearing in mind she doesn’t have a driving licence, call us all the names under the sun, trying to irk a reaction.

“When they would go past, they would bark at us and growl, pretending to be dogs.

"They have shown no guilt or remorse and would even sing 'Who let the dogs out?' as they passed."

Ziggy wandering about outside the holiday lodge (Image: Bruno Brown) Eventually, the Blundells decided to take further action.

“Only after their childish behaviour began, and it was intense for weeks, did we decide to report them to the police in the hope this would stop," Mrs Blundell said.

The couple contacted Norfolk Constabulary in April 2023, reporting the dog bite - which had happened almost two years earlier.

They also claimed they had been harassed because Mrs Blundell said she had been filmed........

© Eastern Daily Press