A Norfolk village has had its internet reconnected after a fallen tree branch cut it off for almost a week.

Not only were people in Itteringham affected, but business was almost brought to a standstill when the tree branch fell on telephone wires near the village's church last week.  

Although the internet has now been restored in the village near Aylsham, Tess Wright, general manager for the Walpole Arms, said the past week has been "really hard" for the business at the pub. 

She said: "A customer came in worried that we'd gone bust because she couldn't get hold of us."

Tess Wright was relieved when the internet connection at the Walpole Pub came back on.Tess Wright was relieved when the internet connection at the Walpole Pub came back on. (Image: Newsquest)

Ms Wright is now depending on the honesty of the pub's patrons to make sure they settle last week's bills. 

"We had to keep the contact details of our customers on Thursday because we couldn't take any card payments, so now I've got to ring them up and ask them to pay." 

She can now also return to final preparations for the Walpole Arms' first birthday, which takes place this Friday, August 23. 

"I thought we were going to have to cancel. We've organised so much of it already so I'm just really grateful that we've been able to keep that on track."

Itteringham's village shop was also affected by the broken cables.Itteringham's village shop was also affected by the broken cables. (Image: Newsquest)
Itteringham's village shop and post office was also affected by the internet disturbance and is still waiting for its phone lines to work again.

Mike Hemsley, a volunteer in charge of the shop's social media, said: "Did you know Itteringham is an anagram for IT nightmare? Who would've thought? 

"Hopefully the post office will be open on Thursday but it runs on an ADSL system so we're very dependent on the phone lines being on.

"It just goes to show how reliant on technology we've become. 

Mr Hemsley also said Itteringham is a village with "quite a few elderly people living on their own". 

He added: "Can you imagine if we needed to call emergency services?"

Openreach said Church Road, which was closed while repairs were done to the cables, would be open by the end of today.