FINALISTS of the Visit Worcestershire Tourism Awards for Excellence 2018 gathered to see the winners announced.

The awards ceremony was held at The Bank House Hotel in Bransford on Tuesday and more than 100 people from tourism businesses in Worcestershire and Herefordshire attended.

Winners, those highly commended and commended for each of the 12 categories were revealed.

The Worcestershire Winners were:

•Best Conference Venue, sponsored by Worcestershire Business Central – Worcestershire County Cricket Club

•Best Drink Producer, sponsored by mfg Solicitors –The Hop Shed

•Best Eating Out, sponsored by Worcestershire County Cricket Club ¬– Feli’s Bar & Restaurant

•Best Festival or Event, sponsored by Area Entertainments – Broadway Arts Festival

•Best Food Producer, sponsored by Worcestershire Ambassadors – Croome Cuisine

•Best Guest Accommodation, sponsored by Quality in Tourism – Sidney House

•Best Hotel, sponsored by Thomas Carroll – The Abbey Hotel

•Best Self Catering, sponsored by Baldur Digital – Hop Pickers’ House at Brook Farm

•Best Sustainable Business, sponsored by Forest Holidays – Churchfields Saltworks

•Best Touring, Camping and Holiday Park, sponsored by OLPRO – Hidden Valley Camping

•Best Tourism Pub, sponsored by Celtic Marches – Queen Elizabeth Inn

•Best Visitor Attraction, sponsored by Herefordshire Wildlife Trust – The Commandery

Ross Calladine, of Visit England, said: “The awards are a fantastic showcase of the outstanding range and quality of tourism products and services, and visitor experiences across Herefordshire and Worcestershire.”

The Queen Elizabeth Inn, Elmley Castle, won Best Tourism Pub.

Neil Lavender Jones, who runs the pub, said: “As a community we took it over four years ago, then we renovated and reopened in December 2014. We are a community pub with 23 investors, but only two of us run it.

“It is absolutely fantastic that we have won. The team of people involved are marvellous. We have a lot of people who volunteer as well as full time employees. We have all worked so hard to establish ourselves and welcome our guests – whether they are locals or tourists.

“It’s a shame our workers couldn’t all be here today to experience this. I think tonight when we go back to the pub there will be a lot of drink flowing and celebrating. They deserve a huge pat on the back.

“The village needs a heart, and without the pub it wouldn’t be the same. So, as a community we have determined that we will keep it open as a pub. We have a lot to offer to the local community. We get a lot of compliments, especially from people overseas who visit. There is a real sense of community. The positive input we receive keeps us going.”

Croome Cuisine won Best Food Producer and Nick Hodgetts, managing director, said: “We are based in Whittington, just on the outskirts of Worcester. To win the Awards for Excellence is an amazing follow up because this is the third year we have entered, and received Highly Commended twice, so to win this year is fantastic.

"It follows on from the International Cheese Awards we took part in a month ago, for our cheese which is called Worcester sauce and shallots, which is very local and one of the products they tasted for us to enter this competition.

"It’s a real boost to win, especially going into the Christmas season and all the markets."

Best Visitor Attraction was won by The Commandery, in Worcester. Helen Large said: “We are absolutely thrilled to have won. We have put so much hard work in for the last five years. We have listened to our staff, we have listened to our visitors, we have anchored The Commandery in Worcester.

“This is such a wonderful way to be proud of The Commandery and all its team.”

Best Drink Producer was won by The Hop Shed in Suckley, Worcester.

Sarah Saleh said: “We are a brewery based just outside Malvern, on hop farms. We use the hops from the farm in the beer that we make. We are promoting our beers as Worcestershire ales. We are a new business, we have been going almost two years now.

“It means a lot to win an award for such a young business. We very much feel part of the community. Lots of people come and visit our bar, which we open only Fridays and Saturdays. The community comes in and it is a really friendly place to have a business."

Broadway Arts Festival was the winner of the Best Festival or Event.

Chair of the management committee, Karen Bloch, said: “We can now safely say we are the biggest Arts Festival in the North Cotswolds. We bring arts of all sorts – music, theatre, workshops, demonstrations and talks. Our aim is to entertain and enlighten, but most of all it is to encourage the arts.

“We are very much into participation. We encourage all ages and all abilities. We have doubled the size of our festival this year.

“We have just had our festival in June, so we will be preparing for the next one soon.

“They are always very busy. The festival goes on for 10 days. We had 67 events over 10 days. It is a really big festival, despite Broadway being quite a small village.

“We also give a week-long programme of free events to the local schools. We are top quality artists and give out annual grants to full time students of the arts who live locally.”

For Best Touring, Camping and Holiday Park, the winner was Hidden Valley Camping.

Owner Wayne Moseley said: “We are a little campsite, going back to nature, back to basics, like camping should be and used to be. It is about getting away from the gridded touring parks and exposing visitors to the wonderful countryside we have around us.

“It feels unbelievable to have won. All the hard work is paying off.”

Author, historian and TV presenter, Professor Kate Williams, from Stourbridge, hosted the event – entertaining guests with her discussion of history, heritage and maximising visitors.

She said: “Today has been really wonderful and has been an amazing celebration of everything that Herefordshire and Worcestershire have to offer to all its visitors.

“It has been fantastic, and some wonderful prizes have been won.

“It is amazing to celebrate people who are doing so much to preserve this nation’s history and heritage. As historians we wouldn’t be anywhere without people who work so hard.

“It’s really inspiring to learn all about these places. There is so much for visitors to discover in Worcestershire.

“I grew up nearby and we always went to Worcestershire for our family days out. I’ve been on the Severn Valley Railway with my dad 54 times - he is a real enthusiast!

“My love for history came from outings with my parents to places that have been celebrated today. It is really meaningful to me that the next generation of little historians will be visiting these places with their families and feel inspired as well.”