A grade II listed Italianate country house with its very own theatre; a battle site of national historical significance; a rural hotel escape offering a rejuvenating heat and ice spa experience and a B&B that prides itself on providing environmentally friendly holidays are just some of the winners of the 2009 East Midlands Tourism Enjoy England Excellence Awards.

Open to tourism businesses across the East Midlands, a total of 16 awards were presented at the Athena in Leicester on the 8th October to those businesses that have excelled in providing a first class experience for visitors.  Covering all areas of the visitor economy the categories include visitor attractions, pubs, self catering, B&B and hotels.

Leicestershire's Kilworth House Hotel won Small Hotel and Bosworth Battlefield Heritage Centre in Sutton Cheney won Small Visitor Attraction.  For the second year running Whittlebury Hall Hotel and Spa in Northamptonshire took the gold award in the Large Hotel category while Lincolnshire's Horncastle-based Poachers Hideaway won the Sustainable Tourism award. 

Celebrating local food and drink, the Taste of the Region award went to Nottinghamshire's Waggon and Horses while The Yorkshire Bridge Inn in Derbyshire, was crowned Best Pub Experience.

BBC One Show host Des Coleman was on hand to oversee the night's festivities and to present all of the gold, silver and bronze award winners with their accolades at a gala black tie event in Leicester.*

Tourism Director at East Midlands Development Agency, Ruth Hyde commented:

 "I would like to congratulate all of the 2009 tourism award winners.  We had a record number of businesses entering this year and the competition was extremely high so it's a great achievement to have reached this stage of the competition.'

'In the current climate it is more important than ever to give customers good quality and good value, and these awards are about recognising those tourism businesses in the East Midlands that are prepared to go that little bit further, and really work to create a first class experience." 

Many of the regional gold award winners will now go forward to the national final next April, where they will compete against other regional winners from across England for the chance to be crowned 'England's Best'.

The winners of the 2009 East Midlands Enjoy England Excellence Gold Awards are:

- Access for All - Imago, Loughborough University, Leicestershire

- Bed and Breakfast/ Guest Accommodation - Underleigh House, Hope, Derbyshire

- Best Pub Experience - The Yorkshire Bridge Inn, Hope Valley, Derbyshire

- Business Tourism - Highgate House, Creaton, Northamptonshire

- Caravan Holiday Park & Holiday Village - Callow Top Holiday Park, Buxton, 

   Derbyshire

- Large Hotel - Whittlebury Hall Hotel and Spa, Towcester, Northamptonshire

- Large Visitor Attraction - The National Space Centre, Leicester, Leicestershire

- Outstanding Customer Service - Jackie Greaves at D.H Lawrence Heritage,   

   Eastwood, Nottinghamshire

- Self Catering Holiday - Blakelow Farm Holiday Cottages, Winster, Derbyshire

- Small Hotel - Kilworth House Hotel, North Kilworth, Leicestershire

- Small Visitor Attraction - Bosworth Battlefield Heritage Centre, Sutton Cheney, 

   Leicestershire

- Sustainable Tourism - Poachers Hideaway, Horncastle, Lincolnshire

- Taste of the Region - Waggon and Horses, Halam, Nottinghamshire

- Think Family - Brackenborough Hall Coach House, Louth, Lincolnshire

- Tourism Experience - Go Ape, Edwinstowe, Nottinghamshire

- Tourism Information Service - Nottingham Tourism Centre, Nottingham, 

    Nottinghamshire