Hotel wins award

Fallowfields Country House Hotel and Restaurant, owned by Anthony and Peta Lloyd and once the home of Begum Aga Khan, won the Small Hotel of the Year in the 2007 Tourism ExSELLence Awards.

The awards, organised by Tourism South East and sponsored by EDF Energy, attracted entries from Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Hampshire, Surrey, Sussex, the Isle of Wight, and Kent.

Mr Lloyd said: "This is simply recognition of the continued hard work put in by all our loyal staff.

"We won this award in 2005 and to win again shows that we're maintaining a fantastic consistency in our efforts to deliver an excellent customer service."

The hotel is set in 12 acres of grounds, where many of the vegetables used by chef Adam Abbott are grown.

The son and daughter of the hotel owners, Olivia Lloyd and James Odell, and sales and marketing manager Irina Vishnina, received the accolade from TV presenter Jenny Powell at a ceremony held at Wentworth Golf Club, in Surrey.

Other Oxfordshire attractions singled out for special mention in this year's awards were Oxford Castle Unlocked, the runner-up in the Small Business of the Year category, and Bicester Village, highly commended as Best Tourism Experience.

Oxford Castle Unlocked opened in June last year and is already a major visitor attraction.

Judges praised its innovation, customer service excellence, sustainability and the creative partnerships it has forged in the city to attract visitors.

Two-thirds of the 3.5 million visitor to Bicester Village in 2006 were tourists, and it is the UK's most popular shopping destination for overseas visitors after London.

Tourism South East managing director Bob Collier said: "Businesses like these have led the way in making Oxfordshire such an outstanding and successful destination, and play an essential role in helping to encourage more domestic and international visitors to enjoy and return to the South East."