Ironbridge Gorge museums win gold in tourism awards

The Ironbridge Gorge Museums Trust took home gold for the Large Visitor Attraction of the year. It beat around 345 competitors to take home the prestigious award at the ceremony held at the Sage Centre in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear.

A bed and breakfast guest house in Shropshire is also toasting success at the awards, taking home bronze for best guest accommodation.

The Old Rectory of St James Guest House, in Stirchley Village, Telford, took home the award, which owners Rosemary and Adrian Brown said came as a huge shock.

This is the first time the hotel has been nominated for the award, and the pair say they are over the moon to be one of the top three bed and breakfasts in England.

Mr Brown said: "We had a great evening and we got the bronze award. This was our first attempt, which is why we are so pleased that we came home with the bronze.

"We are now in the top three guest houses in England and we are really chuffed with that. There were 18 categories but I am not sure how many people entered ours. I know overall there were about 340 entries," he said.

The couple believe that the fact they use all local produce and run the hotel themselves it helped them stand out.

Mr Brown, added: "We like to be a little different and go that extra mile and with our extra touches it puts us above the rest. We have been in Telford for five years and before that we were in the East Midlands for another five years.

"We just love meeting different people who come to Shropshire and it's so interesting learning about them."

Guests at the hotel are only a drive away from the Shropshire hills, RAF Cosford, Weston Park and Ironbridge.

Originally the rectory of St James' Church from the 18th century to about 1975, The Old Rectory has been a guest house for many years.

The hotel only has five rooms with Mr Brown and his wife doing all the cleaning.

Anna Brennand, chief executive of Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust, said: "It was a great achievement to just reach the finals again of these prestigious awards, as this positions us amongst the best tourist attractions in the country.

"Trustees, volunteers and staff are all delighted that we have received the gold award, which is a wonderful testament to all their hard work over the years."

The 10 Ironbridge Gorge Museums are spread across six square miles of the Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site, together attracting over half a million visitors per year.

It is the latest award to be bestowed on the attractions. Earlier in the year the trust was named best family day out at the 2015 Hudson's Heritage Awards.

Paul Gossage, director of marketing and PR at Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust, added: "It came as huge surprise when we they announced us as the winners.

"We knew were doing something right as we made it onto the shortlist and we were inspected, but we were shocked when we made it as finalists.

"We have been nominated in for this award before, and we took home silver a few years ago and have been highly commended previously, so to win it is just fantastic.

"I would like to thank everyone who helps us as we couldn't have done it without them, so this is really a credit for all the volunteers, trustees, staff members and of course our visitors."

He added: "We haven't been nominated for anything else this year, but you never know. Sometimes we get nominated by our visitors, so it could happen again, but at the moment we are just thrilled with this amazing award."

For information about The Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust visit on www.iron bridge.org.uk or for information about the awards see www.visitenglandawards.org