Success For Woburn Abbey And Gardens At National Tourism Awards

Receiving the award

Woburn Abbey and Gardens won a major award at the National Coach Tourism Awards 2014 on the 15th May.

The awards, held at the Blackpool Tower Ballroom, was organised by trade magazine Coach Monthly and recognises excellence and innovation across coach tour operators, tourist destinations and attractions, and industry suppliers. Woburn Abbey and Gardens won the award for “Coach Friendly Visitor Attraction of the Year”.  
    
In giving Woburn Abbey and Gardens the award, the judges said "Woburn Abbey’s comprehensive approach to providing an excellent service to tour planners, the appointment of a dedicated groups co-ordinator, free coach parking, and a clear and easy-to-use groups section on the website stood out in a sector where competition to attract groups is strong." The judges also commented on Woburn Abbey’s offer to arrange out-of-hours experiences, and the free entry and generous £10 refreshment voucher for drivers.

Lisa Weaver, Groups Co-ordinator, and Stephen Manion, Operations Manager, collected the award in front of more than 400 tourism industry professionals. The awards presentation was hosted by the editor of Coach Monthly magazine, Stuart Render, and ex EastEnders actress and television presenter Brooke Kinsella MBE.

“The National Coach Tourism Awards is the only national awards scheme to focus specifically on the coach tourism community,” says Stuart Render. “This is therefore a well-deserved and a significant achievement. Our winners are at the forefront in delivering excellence across all sectors of the industry, helping to raise the quality of customer service and quality across coach operators, destinations, visitor attractions and tourism industry suppliers.”

Commenting on the award, Stephen Manion said: "It has been an incredible month for the Woburn Estate with this award coming soon after success for The Woburn Hotel at the MK Food and Leisure Awards. It is a credit to everyone who works here and the hard work that everyone puts in to provide the highest quality experience for our visitors."

For further information on group bookings visit www.woburnabbey.co.uk or call Woburn Abbey and Gardens on 01525 290333.

Beaulieu’s International Autojumble Wins Silver At The 2014 Visitengland Awards For Excellence

Beaulieu’s International Autojumble has won a Silver Award in the Tourism Event of the Year category at the prestigious VisitEngland Awards for Excellence 2014 Ceremony.

Beaulieu’s International Autojumble wins Silver

The Silver Award is one of the highest accolades for Excellence in Tourism in England which VisitEngland can bestow. Beaulieu was presented with their Silver Award at a glittering Awards Ceremony which was held on 12 May 2014 at The Jockey Club, Cheltenham Racecourse, Cheltenham.

Commenting on the Award James Berresford, VisitEngland’s Chief Executive said: "We received hundreds of applications of an extremely high quality this year.  Winning Silver is therefore a considerable achievement and one of the highest accolades for excellence in tourism which VisitEngland can bestow.  I warmly congratulate Beaulieu on their achievement.”

Beaulieu received their award from Penelope, Viscountess Cobham, Chairman of VisitEngland.

Judith Maddox, Beaulieu’s Events Manger said: “The International Autojumble, now in its 48th year, is the oldest and most prestigious of our events and held in high regard within the motoring industry so it is especially rewarding for it also to be recognised by the tourism industry as one of the leading tourism events in England.”

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

Outstanding accolade for Blenheim Palace as they win ‘Gold’ within the Green Tourism and Business Scheme

Blenheim Palace has been awarded Gold within the 2013 Green Tourism and Business Scheme. This scheme is the world’s leading tourism accreditation programme honouring Britain’s most environmentally friendly businesses, and highlights the importance of protecting environments, respecting local cultures, supporting communities, conserving natural resources and minimising pollution.

Blenheim Palace has always been passionate about delivering a greener, more sustainable business, and this award reflects this commitment. Working closely with Green Tourism, the team at Blenheim Palace have moved through the ranks from Silver in 2012, and was graded against a rigorous set of criteria, including energy and water efficiency, waste management and biodiversity, to now achieve the highest accolade of the top gold award in 2013. 

Current initiatives include:

• An impressive 81% of waste on the Blenheim Palace Estate recycled, including many tonnes of both glass and card. This prevents valuable materials being buried, and reduces Blenheim Palace’s pressure on landfill sites, which are due to reach capacity in the South East in six years
• Partnership with Thames Water to reduce water consumption, by identifying leaks in historic pipe work around the Estate. Automatic water monitoring equipment has been installed in key locations and water saving devices will be fitted at the Palace and estate cottages
• Commitment to supporting the best of local suppliers, through offering locally produced food, drink and gift items through our shops and restaurants
• Low energy light bulbs introduced across the Estate, and rainwater is used to water plants

The news comes as Blenheim Palace recently announced it is to develop a £180,000 micro hydro scheme. This involves the instillation of a 10 metre long 14.9 kWp ‘Archimedes Screw’ on the river Glyme this Autumn, and is expected to generate a further 60,000 kWh of clean power each year, providing enough electricity to power 18 homes.

His Grace, 11th Duke of Marlborough said; ‘We are delighted to have been awarded ‘Gold’ within the Green Tourism & Business Scheme. This accolade reflects the seriousness with which we hold the reduction of our carbon footprint and best environmental practices within Blenheim Palace. We are proud of our ongoing association with Green Tourism, and our plans to drive forward new and impressive initiatives, so future generations can continue to enjoy the beauty of Blenheim Palace in years to come.”

Heather Carter, Head of Operations, commented “It is incredibly exciting to be awarded Gold by the GTBS, and a great achievement for all our departments who have been working hard to realise Blenheim Palace’s vision to become a leading, sustainable visitor attraction within the UK”

Jon Proctor, Leading Grading Advisor for Green Tourism stated “The awards review committee were very impressed with the journey Blenheim is on, one which doesn’t end now but is only beginning. Blenheim helps to demonstrate that we really can maintain a rich quality of life and save the planet also.”  Jon explains in more detail  “Blenheim is an iconic visitor attraction with a wealth of cultural and natural history making it one of the UKs most important palaces. It is what lies beneath the surface which really demonstrates how green Blenheim really is. The education department work with local schools and have created a number of green themes relating to where food originates and the kitchen garden and minimising waste. The use of renewables and the investments in microhyrdo are outstanding and done without causing any intrusion into what is a wonderful historical context. The estate farm has a biogas plant and green energy extends to the estate houses. Overall Blenheim Palace demonstrates what can be done to be sustainable and retain our wonderfully rich heritage”

Gold Award for Green Tourism at Chatsworth

Chatsworth has received a ‘Gold’ award from the Green Tourism Business Scheme (GTBS) in recognition of its commitment to excellent environmental practice.

GTBS Inspectors visited the Peak District country estate on 19 February to make an assessment of Chatsworth House, Garden, Farmyard plus the Stables Shops and Restaurants and remarked that “Chatsworth clearly demonstrates how a historical building can carefully juxtapose this historic significance with the principles of sustainable tourism.”

The audit drew particular attention to highlights such as improved roof insulation; excellent use of local and homemade food and beverage products; the replacement of high wattage lighting with LED equivalents; and excellent green management processes, in a report which also noted that “over the last two years the GTBS scoring system has become more rigorous and receiving a GOLD should be commended.” Andrea Nicholas, Director of Green Tourism at GTBS said: “They are an excellent example for other historic attractions.”

“The award is a great achievement, and should be seen as part of Chatsworth’s ongoing commitment to the environment, with recommendations from the assessment helping us to push for further success”, said the Duke of Devonshire.

“We want to develop, steer and promote an evolving policy of environmental awareness and social responsibility with a vision to ensure Chatsworth’s on-going commitment to sustainability with the philosophy ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ at its heart.”

Recent green successes at Chatsworth include:

• Annual litter pick: this year 86 volunteers covered 30 miles on the Chatsworth estate and collected 150 bags of litter including larger items such as car batteries, tyres, 17 hub caps and enough tiles for a whole bathroom.

• The Farm Shop uses half a million fewer plastic bags than it did 2 years ago.

• New, additional recycling bins mean Chatsworth now recycles more than 60 tonnes of visitor waste every year.

• A rolling programme of replacing halogen/high wattage lighting with LED equivalents, which use much less electricity, including LED floodlighting on the house.

• More than 40,000 trees have been planted across 60 acres of the ‘Jubilee Woodland’ - the largest tree planting at Chatsworth for over 90 years.

Sustainability and the environment have been important at Chatsworth since the early 1800s.  The 6th Duke developed the sustainable water features in the garden, bringing water from the nearby lakes and in the late 19C Chatsworth’s first water-powered turbine was installed to provide green electricity to the house.

The Green Tourism Business Scheme has been running since 1997 and with over 2000 members across the UK and Ireland it is the largest and most established scheme of its type in the World. Green Business UK Ltd is a not-for-profit organisation established in 2001 to deliver the GTBS. Chatsworth was previously assessed in 2011 when it achieved a silver rating.

“We are very impressed with what Chatsworth has achieved over the past two years.  Working with historic buildings especially one as iconic as Chatsworth can be challenging.  However, they have embraced modern technology in appropriate places and through their green team they have been able to successfully integrate measures without detracting from the building while also improving the quality of the experience for their guests”, said Andrea Nicholas, Director of Green Tourism.