SMALL country guest houses in Lydford and Postbridge and a country house hotel in Virginstow have scooped RAC awards which are considered the Oscars of the UK and Ireland hospitality industry.
Percy's Country House Hotel at Virginstow — which boasts a two-star rating and has just won the Excellence in England hotel of the year for the South West, together with being one of only eight hotels in the country to be mentioned in the Good Food Guide — was awarded an RAC Blue Ribbon, which marks a consistent commitment to high standards in larger hotels. They also received an RAC 3 Dining Award for 'the quality of food and the complete dining experience'.
Tony Bricknell-Webb, joint owner of the hotel with wife Tina, said the new award was 'absolutely wonderful'. 'It's all happened for us in the last four weeks. The RAC Dining Award puts us in the top ten per cent in the country as far as the restaurant is concerned,' he said. 'It's nice to have pats on the back!'
Lydgate House at Postbridge won a Little Gem award — awarded to providers of guest accommodation of a smaller nature 'for excellence in hospitality, cleanliness and overall attention to details' — for the first time. Moor View House in Lydford retained their Little Gem award in this year's accolades and received a higher RAC Dining Award than last year — level 2.
Proprietors of Moor View House, David and Wendy Sharples, were 'delighted' at the news. 'We were over the moon last year to get the awards for the first time, and to get them again this year means obviously we are doing something right!' said Wendy.
Two other hotels and one guest house in Devon also received awards. RAC Hotels manager Linda Astbury said that as industry standards rose consistently year on year, standing out from the crowd and winning an award became an even greater achievement.
'The properties are a credit to Devon,' she said.