Kendal

The winners of the Cumbria Tourism Awards 2009 were announced a ceremony at the Castle Green Hotel in Kendal last week.

Each winner received a certificate and a specially designed award, handcrafted by Jonathan Stamper of the High Head Sculpture Valley.

The successful businesses were :

• The Sheila Hensman Award for Most Outstanding Customer Service – Jennifer Taylor, The Archway Guest House, Windermere
• Unsung Hero – David Rhodes, Graythwaite Manor Hotel, Grange-over-Sands
• The Lady Inglewood Award for Innovative People Management – Chris Carss, Rothay Garden, Grasmere
• Large Hotel of the Year – The Castle Green Hotel, Kendal
• Small Hotel of the Year – Gilpin Lodge Country House Hotel, Windermere
• Bed & Breakfast of the Year – Storrs Gate House, Bowness
• Self Catering Holiday of the Year – Hall Hills, Carlisle
• Holiday Park of the Year – Castlerigg Hall Caravan and Camping Park, Keswick
• Tourism Website of the Year – The Ambleside Salutation Hotel, Ambleside
• Large Visitor Attraction of the Year – Walby Farm Park, Crosby on Eden, Carlisle
• Small Visitor Attraction of the Year – Wordsworth House and Garden, Cockermouth
• Taste of Cumbria Award of the Year – Low Sizergh Barn Farm Shop, Kendal
• Tourism Experience Award – Silverband Falconry, Kirkby Stephen
• Sustainable Tourism Award – Langdale Leisure Ltd, Great Langdale
• Business Tourism Award – Warwick Mill Meeting Rooms, Carlisle

A new culinary festival will be held near Kendal next month.

Country Fest will take place at the Westmorland County Show Ground in Crooklands on May 24 and 25 2009.

The festival will feature trade stands, cookery demonstrations, live music, a beer festival, children’s activities, sheep shearing and gun dog displays, and much more.

The event is being organised by the Westmorland Country Agricultural Society, organisers of the Westmorland County Show. The Society will run a free bus service from Kendal and Milnthorpe.

Tickets at the door cost £7 for adults and £2 for children.

Several businesses from North West England are in the running for the English tourism industry’s equivalent of the Oscars.

The businesses shortlisted for the Enjoy England Awards for Excellence are:

Augill Castle, Kirkby Stephen, Cumbria – Bed and Breakfast of the Year
The Quaker Tapestry, Kendal, Cumbria – Small Visitor Attraction of the Year
Rheged Centre, Penrith, Cumbria – Business Tourism Award
Park Cliffe Caravan Park, Windermere, Cumbria – Caravan/Holiday Park of the Year
Manchester International Festival – Tourism Experience of the Year
Museum of Science and Industry, Manchester – Best Tourism Website
The Beach House, Blackpool – Self Catering Holiday of the Year

The winners will be announced in York on April 23 2009.

A remote Cumbrian farmhouse – made famous in the cult 1986 film Withnail & I – is to be sold at auction.

Isolated Sleddale Hall, near Shap, is being put up for sale by water company United Utilities for a guide price of over £145,000.

It will go under the hammer with Savills (L & P) Ltd on February 16. Another United Utilities property Vaugh Steel, at Bampton, Penrith, will also be sold at the same auction.

Sleddale Hall, which has been unoccupied for many years, sits on the north side of Wet Sleddale valley and is accessible only via a dirt track. It is almost two miles from the nearest public road and a mile from the nearest inhabited house.

It has long been an interest for fans of the film Withnail & I, starring Richard E Grant and Paul McGann. The film tells the story of two out of work actors in the 1960s who venture to the Lakes to escape London only to find themselves hilariously ill-equipped for the bleak conditions they encounter.

As “Uncle Monty’s cottage”, Sleddale Hall was used for many exterior shots but the interior was little used for filming. It contains many original features and the structure has been recently stabilised and the roof repaired to keep it wind and water-tight.

Built from stone and Lake District slate, Sleddale Hall and its associated outbuildings form a picturesque quadrangle and were probably built in the mid 18th century.

It was originally acquired by the Manchester Corporation in the 1920s as part of the land required to meet Manchester’s growing need for drinking water. The Manchester Corporation eventually became part of North West Water and then United Utilities.

United Utilities senior land agent on its Thirlmere Estate, Edward Holt said: “Sleddale Hall is in one of the quietest parts of the Lake District. I hope it is bought by someone who can restore it. It would make a lovely family home.”

A residential use of the property would be subject to the necessary planning consents being obtained.

Savills director Paul Mooney said he had experience of selling homes that had been film locations – including the Dursleys’ suburban home from the Harry Potter films. Although they tended to attract a lot of interest from film buffs it didn’t necessarily affect the sale price, he added.

“Withnail is an iconic film and there may be a few eccentrics out there who would be interested in owning a piece of film history. Sleddale Hall will certainly garner a bit more public interest than a house of this type normally would. However that doesn’t necessarily equate to a higher price. It’s still a lovely building in a beautiful part of the world.”

Sleddale Hall will be auctioned at The Berkley Hotel, Wilton Place, Knightsbridge, London, SW1X 7RL at 10.30am on Monday February 16, 2009. To register an interest or receive a copy of the marketing details please contact Paul Mooney at Savills on 0207 824 9091.

Several farm shops from North West England featured in a list of the 50 Best Farm Shops in the UK, published in the Independent newspaper last week.

The successful stores were the Westmorland Farm Shop at the Tebay Services near Penrith, Low Sizergh Barn near Kendal, Holker Food Hall at Holker Hall near Grange-over-Sands, and the Hollies (shops at Little Budworth in Cheshire and Lower Stretton near Warrington).

The list was compiled by Henrietta Green (founder of Food Lovers Britain), Matthew Drennan (editor of Delicious magazine), and Amanda Smyth (Head of Marketing, Enjoy England).

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.

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 National Trust is opening many of its properties to the public for free on this weekend for Heritage Open Days.

Properties in the North West include

Acorn Bank Garden & Watermill – Penrith
Beatrix Potter Gallery – Hawshead
Dalton Castle – Dalton-in-Furness
Gawthorpe Hall – Padiham
Hill Top – Hawkshead
Little Moreton Hall – Congleton
Lyme Park – Cheshire
Quarry Bank Mill and Styal Estate – Cheshire
Rufford Old Hall – Ormskirk
Sizergh Castle and Garden – Kendal
Townend – Windermere
Wordsworth House – Cockermouth
Wray Castle – Windermere

Heritage Open Day is a nationwide initiative by the Civic Trust and English Heritage which sees many buildings, which are normally closed or charge a fee, open their doors for free.

For full details visit the National Trust website.

The winners of the Cumbria Tourism Awards 2008 were announced last night at a special ceremony at the Castle Green Hotel in Kendal. The winners were:

Most Outstanding Customer Service Award – Daniel Fairweather, Windermere Marina Village
Unsung Hero – Alan Denwood, Lakes Aquarium
Lady Inglewood Award for Innovative People Management – The Old England, Bowness-on-Windermere
Large Hotel of the Year – The Old England Hotel, Bowness-on-Windermere
Small Hotel of the Year – Appleby Manor Country House Hotel, Appleby
Bed & Breakfast of the Year – Augill Castle, Kirkby Stephen
Self Catering Holiday of the Year – The Lodge, Brampton
Holiday Park of the Year – Park Cliffe Camping and Caravan Estate, Windermere
Large Visitor Attraction – South Lakes Wild Animal Park, Dalton-in-Furness
Small Visitor Attraction – The Quaker Tapestry, Kendal
Taste of Cumbria – Village Bakery, Melmerby, Penrith
Tourism Experience Award – Shacklabank Free Range Walking, Sedbergh
Business Tourism Award – Rheged, Penrith
Tourism Website – Windermere Lodge, Windermere