But this time it wasn't through a recalcitrant vicar or a once famous singer - no this time it was birds or, to be more correct, a bird.
When we were there we noticed a lot of twitchers around with long lens cameras and telescopes. We thought something special was happening or about to happen.
A couple of days after we left, the tiny community was besieged by people and it was all thanks to the magnificently named Rufous Bush Chat. It was the first time the bird has been seen in Britain in 40 years.
This was a big deal in the bird-watching world. It is native to southern Spain, Africa and the Balkans - none of which apparently are anywhere near Stiffkey.
One eminent birdologist (is that a word?) said the bird had been heading for a tropical climate and just went the wrong way. I know how it feels. I was aiming for Scotland once and ended up in London! Apparently the last time the bird was spotted in Britain (that's the species of course and not this particular one) was in Devon in 1980.
Ironically, and I find this quite amusing, so many people turned up to see the bird that they were breaking the social distancing rules and received a warning from the police! Thus proving that bird watching can seriously damage your health.
I have often thought about joining the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) in order to have access to some of the marshland in North Norfolk but I wouldn't call myself a bird enthusiast. I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a Rufous Bush Chat and a common or garden Sparrow. You have to admit from the pictures at the top of the page that there are some similarities. Can you tell which is which?
Still on the subject of Stiffkey, there is one other thing it is famous for - Stiffkey Blues. These are cockles given a blue hue by the mud in which they are found. These are actually pronounced Stewkey Blues. I know there was a move many years ago to call Stiffkey Stewkey rather than Stiffkey but it never caught on just as calling Hunstanton Hunston never caught on. Mind you just along the coast is Cley-Next-The-Sea. Some people pronounce this Clay and others Cly - there seems to be no definitive answer to this one.
This is a big digression as I started this blog with the intention of talking about plural churches of which St John the Baptist in Stiffkey is one.
St John's was originally one of a pair of churches in the same grounds and this wasn't unusual. Stiffkey boasted two churches shortly after the Domesday Book. The other church was St Mary's or was it? The two churches came about because two feudal landlords each built one.
To have two churches in one churchyard was reasonably common, particularly in Norfolk and you don't have to go too far from Hethersett to find an example. There used to be two churches in Great Melton within the same grounds and today you can see one still standing and the ruins of the second. Apparently Reepham had three churches in the same churchyard.
But back to Stiffkey. The closure of second churches began in the 14th century but that of St Mary's, Stiffkey, was deconsecrated in the late 16th century and subsequently crumbled away. Up until then each of the two Stiffkey churches had its own rector.
The mystery surrounds whether the current building is the original St John's or St Mary's. It is called St John's but some historians and authors claim that St Mary's survived and it was St John's that was allowed to turn to dust. Maybe we will never know.
Back to Great Melton. Great Melton was a divided parish in early Norman times with the church of All Saints dating beck to Saxon times. St Mary's, Great Melton, is now a ruin but a rather magnificent tower still stands.