Beaulieu Strikes Gold At Beautiful South Awards 2013

Beaulieu staff with the Beautiful South 2013 gold awards

Beaulieu Events Manager Judith Maddox receiving
the gold award

Beaulieu celebrated a double win at Tourism South East’s Beautiful South Awards, as the attraction was presented with two gold awards at the ceremony held at the Felbridge Hotel, West Sussex on Wednesday 27^th November.

The first gold of the evening was awarded to Beaulieu in the Access for All Tourism category, in a joint win with the Radisson Blu Edwardian Guildford Hotel. This was shortly followed by another gold award for Beaulieu, as the attraction’s International Autojumble won the Tourism Event of the Year.

Members of both the Beaulieu Events and Front of House teams were present at the ceremony to collect their awards. Over the years, Beaulieu has developed into one of the South’s leading day visitor attractions, and prides itself on its visitor facilities and customer services. Its features now include the internationally renowned National Motor Museum, the World of Top Gear, Beaulieu Abbey, and Palace House and gardens.
The International Autojumble, now in its 47^th year, remains the most popular and longest-running of Beaulieu’s motoring events. It is the largest sale of motoring items this side of the Atlantic and welcomes somewhere in the region of 37,000 visitors over the course of the annual two day show.

2013 has proved to be a successful year for Beaulieu, which was also awarded gold in the Large Visitor Attraction of the Year category at the 2013 VisitEngland Awards for Excellence.

Beaulieu’s Commercial Director, Stephen Munn, said: “We are absolutely delighted to receive these accolades, and are very proud to be recognised for the attraction’s accessibility, as this is something we have strived to improve upon as much as possible in recent times. It is wonderful to finish this year on such a high note.”

Having now been running for over twenty years, the Beautiful South Awards celebrate the very best the South East has to offer for all types of tourism businesses including B&Bs, hotels, holiday parks, self catering, visitor attractions, as well as recognising those businesses that have gone the extra mile on accessibility, sustainability and great customer service.

The awards ceremony was co-hosted by Tourism South East Chairman, Ken Robinson CBE, and travel journalist and broadcaster, Alison Rice.

Mr Robinson said: “It is great to see such excellence rewarded.  These 2013 Beautiful South Awards represent the culmination of hard work and dedication by the best tourism professionals, in our best tourism businesses, that have been recognised for providing such outstanding customer experiences.  I look forward to seeing our winners go on to represent the South East on the national stage at the Visit England Awards for Excellence in 2014.”
Peter Colling, Managing Director of TSE added: “What a brilliant night and reminder to everyone that the South East is home to some of the country’s very best tourism businesses and experiences.”

For more information about Beaulieu, please visit www.beaulieu.co.uk

Beaulieu wins Large Attraction Gold Award

At the 2012 Beautiful South Awards for Excellence gala dinner held at Denbies Wine Estate, hosted by Toby Anstis from Heart FM radio and TSE Chairman Ken Robinson, Beaulieu received the Gold Award in the Large Attraction category.

In its 60th anniversary year, more than 400,000 visitors from all over the world have visited the Beaulieu attraction, giving it its best visitor numbers since the mid 90s.  A big part of this success has been the opening of BOND IN MOTION, an exclusive exhibition, the largest of its kind staged anywhere in the world, featuring 50 original vehicles from the James Bond films, including some of the best loved and most iconic.

Beaulieu’s Commercial Director, Stephen Munn said: “Beaulieu was one of the first stately homes in England to open its doors to visitors in the early 1950s and I am delighted that in its 60th anniversary year it continues to flourish.

“The attraction endeavours to offer something for all ages and tastes and its latest exhibition BOND IN MOTION has brought a whole new audience to the attraction since its opening at the beginning of the year. We are delighted to be the recipients of this prestigious award in such a special year for Beaulieu.”

Beaulieu also received Silver Awards in three other categories;  Access for All Tourism, Tourism Event of the Year, for the International Autojumble, and its in-house caterers, Leith’s, for Business Tourism.

In addition Beaulieu has received a Highly Commended Award for its Shopping Experience in the 2012 Hudson’s Heritage Awards and a Highly Commended in the Visitor Attraction category at this year’s Bournemouth Tourism Awards.

SUCCESS FOR BEAULIEU AT THE BEAUTIFUL SOUTH AWARDS 2011

Beaulieu was basking in success last week at the Beautiful South Awards for Excellence 2011, when the New Forest visitor attraction was presented with not one, but three awards at the ceremony held at the Denbies Wine Estate, Surrey.

Despite facing fierce competition from other entrants, Beaulieu was delighted to receive a Silver Award for Outstanding Customer Service, and a Silver Award in the Tourism Event of the Year category for its world-famous International Autojumble. In addition, the attraction’s catering arm, Leith’s at Beaulieu, was Highly Commended in the Business Tourism category.

Members of the Beaulieu Events and Front of House teams, and Leith’s were present at the ceremony to collect their awards. Beaulieu has developed over the years into one of the South’s leading day visitor attractions, and prides itself on its visitor facilities and customer services. Its features now include the internationally renowned National Motor Museum, which has recently had a new mezzanine level installed to improve access to the upper floor, the World of Top Gear, Beaulieu Abbey, and Palace House and gardens, plus a growing calendar of motoring related events which run throughout the year.

The annual awards, organised by Tourism South East, are now in their 21st year, and recognise businesses and destinations across the tourism industry for their exceptional levels of customer service and dedication to raising standards.

Chairman of Tourism South East, John Williams commended Beaulieu and all other award winners on their success, saying: “We offer our congratulations to all tonight’s winners. Our industry’s commitment to providing the best possible customer experience and to exceeding customer expectations is outstanding. The Award winners have shown that they are truly the best-in-class and we look forward to seeing them on the national stage at the VisitEngland Awards for Excellence 2012.”

In addition to the success at the Beautiful South Awards, Beaulieu also received two other awards last week. Earlier on the same day Leith’s at Beaulieu received another Highly Commended award in the Best Corporate Venue category at the Hudson’s Awards, and on Tuesday last week Beaulieu’s Education Team were awarded the Sandford Award, recognising excellence in heritage education.

Next year, the attraction will be celebr

ating two anniversaries; 60 years since Palace House first opened to visitors and 40 years since the launch of the National Motor Museum. In honour of this, and to further improve the visitor experience, it will be hosting brand new exhibition, Bond In Motion, showcasing 50 original vehicles from the James Bond films. This will be the largest exhibition of Bond vehicles staged anywhere in the world and will run from mid-January to December 2012.

For more information on the Beaulieu attraction, please visit www.beaulieu.co.uk

www.treasurehouses.co.uk