Northumberland’s Commitment to Innovation and Inclusivity Shine at Annual Tourism Award Ceremony
24 Mar 2025
Seven Northumberland businesses took home gold at the 2025 North East England Tourism Awards ceremony, with Northumberland dominating four categories, scooping the hotly contested Accessible and Inclusive Tourism Category and achieving gold in new accolade, The Rising Star Award.
29 Northumberland Tourism and Hospitality businesses from across Northumberland gathered at the annual awards ceremony at Newcastle's Civic Centre alongside businesses from the whole of the North East. The 2025 award haul came as Northumberland featured in 16 of the 18 categories.
Seven Northumberland businesses were thrilled to take home the gold this year, as well as Northumberland achieving all awards in categories B&B Guesthouse of the Year, New Tourism Business of the Year, Camping, Glamping and Holiday Park of the Year and Self Catering Accommodation of the Year.
Amongst these, one of Northumberland's newest attractions, Ad Gefrin Anglo Saxon Museum & Whisky Distillery, picked up Gold for New Tourism Business of the Year. Visit Northumberland sponsored this category this year and this is the second year that a Northumberland business has won gold in this category, demonstrating the breadth of new experiences that the county has to offer.
Another hotly contested category was the Accessible and Inclusive Tourism Award, which was won by Whitehouse Farm. Applications for this category more than doubled this year, and this achievement demonstrates Northumberland's commitment to creating a more inclusive future.
Northumberland also achieved gold in one of the new awards introduced this year, The Rising Star award, which shines a light on the exciting new talent in the tourism sector. This was won by Ellie Robson of Northumberland County Show. Three new awards were introduced to showcase even more of the region's incredible visitor economy. For the first time the public were invited to have their say in the Festivals and Event category with thousands of votes being cast for their favourite.
The full list of Gold Northumberland winners is:
Accessible and Inclusive Tourism Award - Whitehouse Farm
B&B of the Year - The Beresford Arms
Camping, Glamping and Holiday Park of the Year - Tranwell Farm Campsite
New Tourism Business Award - Ad Gefrin Anglo Saxon Museum & Whisky Distillery
Self-Catering Provider of the Year - The Glebe Retreat
Small Visitor Attraction of the Year - Northumberland College Zoo
The Rising Star - Ellie Brown, Northumberland County Show
Andrew Fox, chair of Visit Northumberland, said, "It is amazing to see Northumberland have such a strong presence in the North East England Tourism Awards for yet another year. The outstanding outcome for Northumberland demonstrates the incredible offering we have here in the county, the quality of experiences that we can offer and the new product that continues to emerge, made clear by the fact that Northumberland has won New Tourism Business of the Year for two years running. Congratulations to everyone who received an accolade and it was an honour to watch Northumberland's successes come to light at the awards ceremony."
The year's Special Contribution to Tourism Award was handed to Susan Justice, Head of Business Development, North East at Bidfood, food and drink wholesalers, for her dedication and commitment to raising the profile of the food and drink sector in the region. This is the third year the Outstanding Contribution Award has been presented with previous winners including Robson Green and Ann Cleeves, author of Vera.
Delivered by England's first Destination Development Partnership - Destination North East England, winners in some of the categories will now go on to compete at a national level at the VisitEngland Awards for Excellence, held in Brighton in June.
The Destination North East England Tourism Awards are made possible through the support of Local Visitor Economy Partnerships NewcastleGateshead Initiative, Visit Northumberland and Visit County Durham. Headline sponsors for the event were once again Bidfood and Newcastle College were Event sponsors.
2025 Northumberland Awards Winners in full
Accessible and Inclusive Tourism Award
GOLD - Whitehouse Farm Centre
BRONZE - The Alnwick Garden
B&B and Guest House of the Year
GOLD - The Beresford Arms
SILVER - Old School House, Haltwhistle
BRONZE - Wydon Farm B&B
Camping, Glamping and Holiday Park of the Year
GOLD - Tranwell Farm Campsite
SILVER - Walkmill Campsite
BRONZE - Vindomora Country Lodges
Ethical, Responsible and Sustainable Tourism Award
SILVER - Laverock Law Cottages and Glamping
BRONZE - Battlesteads
Experience of the Year
BRONZE - Serenity Farne Island Boat Tours
Large Hotel of the Year
SILVER - Matfen Hall
Large Visitor Attraction of the Year
SILVER - Ad Gefrin Anglo-Saxon Museum & Whisky Distillery
BRONZE - Bamburgh Castle
New Tourism Business of the Year
GOLD -Ad Gefrin Anglo-Saxon Museum & Whisky Distillery
SILVER - Northumberland Nook
BRONZE - The Tempus
HIGHLY COMMENDED - Lilidorei at The Alnwick Garden
Pub of the Year
SILVER - The Beresford Arms
Self Catering Accommodation of the Year
GOLD - The Glebe Retreat
SILVER - Doxford Cottages
BRONZE - Chesters Stables
Small Hotel of the Year
SILVER - Lord Crewe Arms, Blanchland
BRONZE - Marshall Meadows Manor House
HIGHLY COMMENDED - The Greenhead Hotel
Small Visitor Attraction of the Year
GOLD - Northumberland College Zoo
Taste of North East England
BRONZE - The Beresford Arms Whalton
Volunteer of the Year Award
BRONZE - Sarah Davidson, Northumberland County Show
The Rising Star Award
Ellie Robson, Northumberland County Show