EUAN Aitken thought it was a huge joke when he found he was a finalist in a national competition - the Landlady of the Year contest.

"It looks as though I'll have to buy myself a new dress for the big day," he quipped.

The former Marks & Spencer executive, 58, runs the ten-bedroom Upper Green Farm bed and breakfast hotel in Manor Road, Towersey, with his wife Marjorie.

The way they run the place was monitored by researchers for AAS Hotel Services.

He is now among the top 20 finalists who will have a day out at the Dorchester Hotel on May 11 when the winner and two run- ners-up are announced.

For the organisers, development officer Joan Brown said: "We had our first man in the Landlady of the Year competition two years ago, and this year we have three!"

"They all treat it with good humour and obviously have their legs pulled about it.

"But if they're finalists they've really had to work hard for the honour and should be proud of it.

"So far we've not had a male winner - but this year could see a first."

Mr Aitken said: "I thought it was a wonderful joke when I got the letter saying I was a finalist.

"Everyone has seen the funny side of it and I'm looking forward to going to the Dorchester."

"When the entry form came through the door, for some reason my name was the one on the top and there it stayed."

Their farmhouse hotel won the Which? magazine Hotel of the Year in Oxfordshire award in 1994 and 1995, and gets an honourable mention in the latest guide.

And a photograph of the couple adorns the front of the AA Bed and Breakfast Guide 1998.

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