Preview: The South East's Best Tourism Businesses Celebrate at the Beautiful South Awards 2019/20

Beautiful South Awards 2019_2020_Customer Service_L to R Sue Gill, Director of Training Services: Lorrie Middleton, Hovertravel Isle of Wight and Simon Calder

11 Dec 2019

The South East's Best Tourism Businesses Celebrate at the Beautiful South Awards 2019/20

Tags: Beautiful Destinations, Awards, Beautiful South East, travel awards, Best of South East

It was celebrations all round for the winners of the last night's Beautiful South Awards at The Grand Brighton hosted by travel journalist and broadcaster, Simon Calder. 80 of the very best tourism businesses and experiences in the South East were presented with gold, silver and bronze trophies in recognition of their achievements over the last eighteen months and 24 businesses were awarded Commended.

Two of the biggest winners on the night were Hever Castle in Kent and Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire which both scooped two Golds. Hever won Gold in the prestigious Large Attraction of the Year category and Blenheim took International Tourism Gold for its achievements in welcoming visitors from overseas. They also shared Gold in the Wedding Venue of the Year category.

The other double Gold winners celebrating last night were Wallops Wood Cottages in Hampshire and The Goodwood Estate. As well as wowing the judges' to collect the top accolade as Self Catering Provider of the Year, Wallops Wood Cottages were also awarded Gold in the Accessibility category. Goodwood collected the prestigious Large Hotel of the Year trophy and was the Gold Business Events Venue winner.

Run by Tourism South East in partnership with Services for Tourism Ltd, the Awards recognise achievement in the tourism industry over the last 18 months. This recognition and the benefits which flow from it, help to showcase best practice and encourage businesses to aspire to excellence. Winners in categories run by Visit England now have the opportunity to represent the South East at the national Tourism Excellence Awards in the spring.

Mark Smith, Chairman of Tourism South East, said,

'What a night! I was blown away by the sheer quality of the tourism businesses and experiences celebrating the trophies. Through some incredibly hard work, talent and determination, they have all achieved well deserved success and will be a great example to others. I am certain that they will inspire other businesses across the UK.

I also want to recognise and thank the Awards sponsors and voluntary judges who make the Awards possible. Our headline sponsor, The Grand Brighton, pulled out all the stops to make the Awards a very special end of year celebration. I am now looking forward to our winners taking on the rest of the country at the VisitEngland National Awards.”

General Manager of The Grand Brighton, Andrew Mosley, said,

'We were delighted to host the Beautiful South Awards as well as sponsoring the event once again. The annual awards ceremony really highlights what a fantastic hospitality industry we have in the South East, and it's always a pleasure to join together to celebrate the successes of businesses in the area with such inspiring stories. Congratulations to all the worthy winners on the night from all of the team at The Grand Brighton.

For more information about the Beautiful South Tourism Awards visit www.beautifulsouthawards.co.uk

Ends

Note to Editors

Photos from the evening are available for download here https://nickwilliamsphotographer.co.uk/p294175281, please credit Nick Williams. You will find a list of the sponsor names who are standing to the left of the finalists - as you look at the stage - (Simon Calder is to the right) here

www.beautifulsouthawards.co.uk/resources along with a generic Beautiful South logo should you wish to use.

Established over 20 years ago, Tourism South East's Beautiful South Awards reward excellence, quality, innovation and customer service. Tourism South East is a leading membership based tourism organisation and provider of tourism services operating across South East England, including Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, East and West Sussex, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire and Surrey and beyond. www.tourismsoutheast.com

Tourism South East has again contracted with Services for Tourism to deliver the Beautiful South Awards for Excellence 2019/20. Services for Tourism have an excellent track-record of delivering regional and county award programmes including their own in the South West. Nell Barrington from Services for Tourism said, “Robin Barker and I are delighted to be working with Tourism South East to deliver the 2019/20 Beautiful South Awards'. For more information about us, please visit www.services4tourism.co.uk

TSE PR contact: Irene Caswell, Destination PR Manager 02380 625475

Twitter @BStourismawards #BSTA2019

Beautiful South Tourism Award Winners and Commended 2019/20

Headline Sponsor The Grand Brighton www.grandbrighton.co.uk

ACCESS AND INCLUSIVITY AWARD

Sponsored by Tourism South East www.tourismsoutheast.com

Winners

Gold - Wallops Wood Cottages, Droxford, Hampshire www.wallopswoodcottages.co.uk @Wallops_Wood

Silver - Mayflower Theatre, Southampton, Hampshire www.mayflower.org.uk @mayflower

Silver - Winchester Science Centre, Winchester, Hampshire www.winchestersciencecentre.org @WinSciCentre

Bronze - Wetwheels Solent, Portsmouth, Hampshire www.wetwheelssolent.co.uk @Wetwheelshq

Commended

Hovertravel, Ryde, Isle of Wight www.hovertravel.co.uk @HovertravelLtd

The Lightbox, Woking, Surrey www.thelightbox.org.uk @TheLightbox

BED AND BREAKFAST OF THE YEAR

Sponsored by Bramley Products www.bramleyproducts.co.uk

Winners

Gold - Swan House B&B, Hastings, East Sussex www.swanhousehastings.co.uk @SwanHouse1066

Silver - The Courtyard at Wainhill, Chinnor, Oxfordshire www.wainhill.co.uk

@courtyard_at_wainhill

Bronze - 7 Longport, Canterbury, Kent www.7longport.co.uk @7Longportbnb

BUSINESS EVENTS VENUE OF THE YEAR

Sponsored by VisitBrighton www.visitbrighton.com

Winners

Gold - The Goodwood Estate, Chichester, West Sussex www.goodwood.com @Goodwood_Estate

Silver - Aviator, Farnborough, Hampshire www.aviatorhampshire.com @aviatorhants

Bronze - Careys Manor Hotel and SenSpa, Brockenhurst, Hampshire www.careysmanor.co.uk @careysmanor

Bronze - Solent Hotel and Spa, Fareham, Hampshire www.solenthotel.co.uk @SolentHotel

CAFÉ/TEAROOM OF THE YEAR

Sponsored by Visit Brighton www.visitbrighton.com

Winners

Gold - Bedgebury Cafe, Goudhurst, Kent www.bedgeburycafe.co.uk

Silver - Emirates Spinnaker Tower Cafe, Portsmouth, Hampshire www.spinnakertower.co.uk @SpinnakerTower

Bronze - Fresco DeliKafessen, Guildford, Surrey http://frescodelikafessen.com @frescodeliKafessen

Commended

The Cafe at Fishers Adventure Farm Park, Wisborough Green, West Sussex www.fishersfarmpark.co.uk @FishersFarmPark

CAMPING AND HOLIDAY PARK OF THE YEAR