HAMPSHIRE venues scored highly in the regional tourism Oscars – the Beautiful South Awards.

Among those returning from the awards ceremony in Brighton clutching trophies were the team from the Montagu Arms Hotel at Beaulieu which won the Flavour of the South East award and were bronze award winners in the Small Hotel category.

Mark Seamer, sales and marketing director for Greenclose Ltd, which own the Montagu, said the awards were tribute to chef Matthew Tomkinson and his team who had also earned the hotel a Michelin star.

“The competition in all the categories was exceptional and to achieve what we have has been wonderful.”

Greenclose also own Carey’s Manor Hotel and SensSpa at Brockenhurst which took a silver award in the Business Tourism category as did the Marwell Hotel.

The Chewton Glenn Hotel at New Milton won silver in the Large Hotel category.

Shorefield Country Park in Milford-on-Sea was named Holiday Park of the Year, piping its near neighbour Hoburne Naish, at New Milton, which won a silver.

Simon Pitman, Group Head of Marketing at Shorefield Holidays said the organisation was “thrilled” with the award and commented: “We pride ourselves on offering a holiday experience that provides a range of accommodation, facilities, activities and local attractions across our six parks, and we’re very thankful to the judges for presenting us with this great award.”

There was a double for the Bombay Sapphire Distillery at Laverstoke which was named Small Visitor Attraction of the Year and asilver in the Sustainable Tourism category.

Wallops Wood Cottages at Droxford also carried off a brace of awards – winning the Access for All Tourism Award and a silver in the Self Catering Holiday provider.

Another Access for All runner-up was the Mayflower Theatre, whose front of house manager Gareth Carr was a bronze winner in the Unsung Hero Award for Customer Service.

Hampshire Fare, which promotes local food and drink across the county, won a silver award in the Tourism Event of the year for the Hampshire Food Festival which ran throughout July and featured more than 150 events.

The organisation’s commercial manager Tracy Nash said: “Winning Silver is a fantastic achievement and a great reward for all the work Hampshire Fare puts into arranging a festival of such magnitude. It also highlights what a thriving local food scene we have in Hampshire, the festival involves hundreds of talented farmers, producers and chefs across the county and this award goes to them too for making the festival such a success. It is a real team effort!

"This year’s Beautiful South Awards certainly sung Hampshire’s praises with multiple awards going to our local restaurants, accommodation venues, hotels, pubs and tourist attractions. It’s been a proud night for Hampshire!”

The winners are now invited to champion the South and South East of England at VisitEngland’s Tourism Excellence Awards which take place during English Tourism Week in March.