German warships in Norway did not impose an exceptional British burden

Did German warships based in Norway consume more British time and resources than they would have in the Atlantic?

No; the Royal Navy was already concentrated in northern waters, and the strategic value of contesting Norway outweighed the additional effort.

Norway was not an unusually inaccessible theater for British forces. Much of the Royal Navy's relevant strength was already oriented toward the North Sea and North Atlantic. German supply routes also faced resistance activity, even if less disruption occurred than in occupied France. Most importantly, preventing Germany from exploiting Norway justified the commitment, so leaving the warships elsewhere would not clearly have saved Britain more resources.