By HELEN COMPSON helen.compson@hexham-courant.co.uk

Published at 13:12, Thursday, 23 October 2008

AN environmentally frien-dly Tynedale business has cleaned up at this year’s North-East Tourism Aw-ards.

Hytte of popularity: Sonja and Simon Gregory outside their grass-roofed lodge.

Proprietors Sonja and Simon Gregory took two gold awards and a silver for their self-catering holiday accommodation, The Hytte.

They now go forward to next spring’s national Enjoy England Awards for Excellence, the Oscars of the tourism industry.

They will be joined there by three other gold award winners from Tynedale.

The Calvert Trust, which provides activity holidays for the disabled at Kielder, will fly the flag in the tourism services category.

The Killhope Lead Mine Museum will represent the region in the small visitor attraction category.

And John Wilkinson, of Acomb, a site supervisor for English Heritage at Chesters Roman Fort, hopes to top the regional award he won for outstanding customer service.

The Gregorys stepped up to receive a mantelpiece-full of trophies and certificates during the glitzy regional ceremony at the Marriott Hotel in Newcastle on Tuesday evening.

The Hytte, at Bingfield, won gold in the access for all and sustainable tourism categories, and silver as self-catering holiday of the year.

“We were absolutely thrilled! Just to get nominated and shortlisted had felt like an achievement,” said Mrs Gregory.

“And the awards ceremony itself was amazing. The room looked like Barbara Cartland’s boudoir, all done out in pink ostrich feathers.”

The Norwegian-style traditional timber mountain lodge or hytte – pronounced ‘hutta’ – with its grass covered roof has become a landmark.

Offering high quality accommodation that is fully accessible for the disabled, the business has gone from strength to strength. Last year it achieved a 97 per cent occupancy rate.

“I think the key to its success has been the fact it offers full disabled access,” said Mrs Gregory.

“It also sleeps eight people, so it’s big enough to accommodate a get-together of family and friends.

“We often have people coming down from Scotland and their friends coming up from the South to meet in the middle at The Hytte.”

The shortage of holiday accommodation tailored to the needs of the disabled, and word of mouth, had worked in their favour. Many bookings come from recommendations and return visits.

Runners-up at the regional awards included: Calvert Trust, which won silver in the access for all category; Carraw Bed & Breakfast, silver in the B&B of the year; and the Station House flat, Catton, bronze in self-catering.

Tourism employs over 60,000 people in the North-East and pumps almost £4 billion into the local economy.

The tourism awards recognised the quality of the places to visit, eat and stay, said the chairman of the North-East England Tourism Board, Geoff Hodgson.

“The awards are a great opportunity to recognise the wealth of talent and experience in the tourism industry.

“Our region is home to some of the best tourism businesses in the UK. For some this will be the opportunity they need to put their business and the North-East on the map.”

Published by http://www.hexhamcourant.co.uk