Rockliffe Hall named England’s best hotel

Rockliffe Hall in Hurworth has been named as the Large Hotel of the Year at a major, national tourism awards ceremony.

The 5* County Durham resort clinched the honour at the prestigious VisitEngland Awards for Excellence 2012, held last night (May 22nd) at Athena in Leicester’s cultural quarter.

The VisitEngland Awards for Excellence 2012 celebrate the best of English tourism and promote healthy industry competition and high standards, helping to ensure England's place as a world-class destination.

This year saw a record number of entries for the 17 categories which include Access for all Tourism Award, Best Tourism Experience, Business Tourism Award, Large Visitor Attraction, Outstanding Customer Service and Travel Article of the Year.

Rockliffe Hall beat off fierce competition from Bovey Castle in Devon, Rudding Park in Harrogate and the Trout Hotel in Cockermouth, Cumbria.
Despite only opening in 2009, Rockliffe Hall has already scooped a number of top awards. Earlier this year, the resort came second in the list of the UK’s most luxurious hotel destinations as compiled by TripAdvisor’s Travellers’ Choice Awards. Only the Dorchester Hotel on London’s Park Lane finished higher, with Rockliffe Hall beating the likes of The Ritz and Claridge’s. In addition, the awards placed Rockliffe Hall as the fifth most luxurious venue in Europe and ninth in its round up of the world’s most luxurious hotel destinations.

Rockliffe Hall was also named the North East’s Large Hotel of the Year last year, has a triple AA Rosette award for its ‘Kenny Atkinson at The Orangery’ restaurant, was named as a Condé Nast Johansens Excellence Award Finalist, won the Taste Durham Highest Quality Assured and Local Produce Champion award for The Brasserie by Atkinson in January this year and spa director, Liz Holmes, is the current holder of the industry’s Spa Professional of the Year award.
Speaking about Rockliffe Hall’s latest accolade managing director, Nick Holmes, said: “The VisitEngland Awards showcase the very best in English hospitality and tourism. To win such an award is a very proud moment for the whole team at Rockliffe Hall who constantly strive to deliver the highest levels of friendly, relaxed service. To be placed alongside some major names with longstanding reputations is a massive accolade for us as we’ve not been around for very long. To be crowned the overall winner is not only great for Rockliffe Hall, but the North East region as a whole.”

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