Crewe

The Nantwich Food and Drink Festival will be held this year from Friday September 25 to Sunday September 27 2009.

The festival will showcase the best in food and drink from Cheshire and North West England.

Highlights include a gourmet food market featuring over 90 to the country’s top specialist food producers, hourly cookery demonstrations by local and celebrity chefs, adult cocktail and cookery workshops, wild food workshops and foraging walks led by Cheshire Countryside Rangers, and the CAMRA Nantwich Beer Festival.

The main festival site is Mill Island, just outside Nantwich town centre.

For a full programme and ticket details visit the official website.

Plans to create a rural promenade between Nantwich and Crewe have been unveiled to local residents.

The £1.46m scheme, funded through Sustrans’ Connect2, will provide a safe and attractive environment for walking and cycling between the two towns, in a bid to reduce the number of cars on Cheshire East roads. Funding has also been provided by Cycle England, Safe Routes to School and WREN (Waste Recycling Environmental Limited).

Cheshire East staff were on hand at the Connect2 event, held in Crewe’s Queens Park, to provide information on the project. Local residents were given the chance to express their views on the project and provide initial feedback.

Councillor David Brickhill, Portfolio Holder for Environmental Services, said ‘This project will not only create a scenic and peaceful route between Nantwich and Crewe but will also help to reduce the number of cars travelling along the nearby A530. The route will also increase safety for cyclists, who will now have an alternative to Middlewich Road.

The scheme will connect the riverside walks in Nantwich with Queen’s Park in Crewe. It will also create links to Malbank School, Reaseheath College, Middlewich Road and Nantwich town centre. A new footbridge across the River Weaver in Nantwich, which will form part of the project, has already been completed.’

The Nantwich and Crewe scheme is one of 79 Sustrans’ Connect2 projects across the nation sharing a Big Lottery Fund award of £50 million. Sustrans was awarded the money after the public backed Connect2 in a public vote televised nationally on ITV1.

Cheshire’s best tourism businesses were revealed at the Visit Chester & Cheshire Awards last night.

The evening at Chester Racecourse saw TV presenter Mark Durden-Smith announce the winning nominations across 14 categories.

The awards were organised by Visit Chester & Cheshire, and supported by the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA), Trinity Mirror and Virgin Trains.

The winners were:

• Event of the Year – Nantwich Food & Drink Festival
• Best Tourism Experience of the Year – Roman Tours, Chester
• Small Attraction of the Year – Arley Hall & Gardens
• Taste of Cheshire Award – Walk Mill, Waverton
• Large Hotel of the Year – Carden Park Hotel, Golf Resort and Spa, Chester
• Small Hotel of the Year – Peckforton Castle, Tarporley
• Bed & Breakfast of the Year – Harrop Fold Farm, Macclesfield
• Sustainable Tourism Award – Carden Park Hotel, Golf Resort and Spa, Chester Excellence in Business Tourism – Carden Park Hotel, Golf Resort and Spa, Chester
• Large Attraction of the Year – Tatton Park, Knutsford
• Access for All Tourism Award – Kerridge End Holiday Cottages, Macclesfield
• Best Tourism Retail Business of the Year – Corks Out, Chester
• Best Tourism Website of the Year – Blue Planet Aquarium, Ellesmere Port
• Self Catering Holiday of the Year – Kerridge End Holiday Cottages, Macclesfield

Three pubs in North West England have been ranked amongst the best in the UK.

The White Lion (Barthomley, near Crewe, Cheshire), The Taps (Lytham, Lancashire), and Ring O’Bells (Christleton, Cheshire) were named in a list of the top 20 pubs in the country by the Morning Advertiser, a respected magazine for the pub trade.

The 2009 Northern Hospitality Awards were held at the Hilton Hotel in Manchester last night.

Winners from the North West were:

• Best Restaurant sponsored by The Hospitality Association & The Restaurant Association – Ramsons Restaurant, Ramsbottom near Bury
• Best Bar sponsored by Brown-Forman – Residence Restaurant & Bar, Nantwich
• Best Pub sponsored by Northern Restaurant & Bar – Kirkstile Inn, Cumbria
• Best Newcomer sponsored by The Russell Partnership – The Church Green, Lymm
• Best Chef sponsored by Steelite – Marc Wilkinson, Fraiche, Oxton, Wirral

The event is now in its 4th year and is organised by Moorfield Media, a Manchester-based exhibition organiser.

Budget hotel operator Travelodge is currently offering rooms at just £9 per night.

The offer is available on this special page on their website and is valid for bookings made now for stays between February and April 2009.

Rooms for other dates are also available from £19 and £29 provided bookings are made 7 and 21 days ahead respectively.

A pub near Nantwich is holding what it claims will be Cheshire’s biggest beer festival this month.

Novemberfest takes place at the Bhurtpore Inn at Aston from November 12 to 16 2008 and will feature 80 real ales, plus 150 bottled Belgian and German beers.

Admission to the beer festival is free. For further details call 01270 780917.

Travelodge has announced that it will open 22 hotels across the country between now and Christmas. New hotels in the North West will include the Travelodge Blackpool Tower and the Travelodge Blackpool Tower. Both are opening late December.

The budget hotel group is currently offering thousands of rooms at only £19 for stays in December and January. They can be booked via this special page on their website.

Tourism businesses in the North West were honoured at the Northwest Tourism Awards last week. The event was held at St George’s Hall in Liverpool on October 22 and was hosted by Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen. Winners and finalists included:

Large Hotel of the Year

Marriott Worsley Park Hotel and Country Club, Manchester (Winner)
Cottons Hotel and Spa, Knutsford
Macdonald Old England Hotel and Spa, Bowness
Big Blue Hotel, Blackpool
Marriott Liverpool City Centre Hotel

Small Hotel of the Year

White House Manor, near Macclesfield (Winner)
Appleby Manor, Appleby
The Shireburn Arms Hotel, Clitheroe

Bed and Breakfast of the Year

Augill Castle, Kirkby Stephen (Winner)
Number One, South Beach, Blackpool (Highly Commended)
Moss Lodge, Rochdale
42 Caldy Road, West Kirby
Sand Hollow Farm, Burwardsley

Large Visitor Attraction of the Year

Manchester Art Gallery (Winner)
Ness Botanic Gardens, Neston
South Lakes Wild Animal Park, Dalton in Furness
Sandcastle Waterpark, Blackpool

Small Visitor Attraction of the Year

The Quaker Tapestry Exhibition, Kendal (Winner)
Cotebrook Shire Horse Centre, Cotebrook
Farmer Ted’s Farm Park, Ormskirk
Smithills Hall, Bolton
Mersey Ferries Manchester Ship Canal Cruises

Self Catering Holiday of the Year

The Beach House, Blackpool (Winner)
Staying Cool, Manchester (Highly Commended)
Premier Apartments, Liverpool
Mellow Brook Cottage at Harrop Fold Farm, Macclesfield
The Lodge Holiday Cottage, Hayton

Holiday Park of the Year

Park Cliffe Camping and Caravan Park, Windermere (Winner)
Newton Hall Holiday Park, Blackpool
Manor Wood Country Caravan Park, Coddington

Excellence in Business Tourism

The Rheged Centre, Penrith (Winner)
Park Royal Hotel, Warrington (Highly Commended)
Barton Grange Hotel, Preston
Manchester United
The Conference Centre at LACE, Liverpool

Taste of England’s Northwest

Roses Tea Room, Heswall (Winner)
The Hollies Farm Shop, Cheshire (Highly Commended)
The Village Bakery Melmerby
Northcote Manor, Langho
Isinglass Restaurant, Urmston

Tourism Experience of the Year

Manchester International Festival (Winner)
Tate Liverpool – Turner Prize (Highly Commended)
Shacklabank Free Range Walking, Sedbergh (Highly Commended)
Byways Breaks, Cheshire
Downy Duckling Experience, WWT Martin Mere
Lancashire Food Festival, Accrington
Cholmondeley Fireworks Concert and Garden Party

Excellence in Customer Service

Gary Henshall – Sandcastle Waterpark, Blackpool (Winner)
Julie Lyons – De Vere Carden Park Hotel, Chester
Daniel Fairweather, Windermere Marina Village
Pam Simpson – World of Glass, St Helens
Madge Butler – Crowne Plaza Manchester Airport

Sustainable Tourism Award

Palace Hotel, Manchester (Winner)
Cote How Organic Guest House, Rydal (Highly Commended)

RSPB Leighton Moss Nature Reserve, Silverdale
Carden Park Hotel, Chester

Tourism for All Award

The Beacon Museum, Whitehaven (Winner)
The Trafford Centre, Manchester (Highly Commended)
Wyre Estuary Country Park
The National Wildflower Centre, Knowsley

Tourist Information Centre of the Year

Congleton TIC (Winner)
Fleetwood TIC (Highly Commended)
Manchester Visitor Centre
St.Helens TIC
Keswick TIC

The Nantwich Food and Drink Festival will be held this year from Friday September 26 to Sunday September 28. The festival will showcase the best in food and drink from Cheshire and North West England.

Highlights include a CAMRA Beer Festival, cookery demonstrations including celebrity chef Gino D’Acampo, a farmers’ market, and gourmet food marquee featuring over 90 regional producers and restaurants.

For a complete programme of events and details of how to purchase tickets visit the official website.