VisitEngland's Awards for Excellence

Explore the best English tourist sites

Held annually since he VisitEngland Awards for Excellence are always about more than just trophies and speeches. They are a true celebration of the excellence and innovation - and the people - in the tourism sector.

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Here are a selection of six Gold Award winners on RatedTrips.com that show the best of England's hospitality and tourism.

Accessible and Inclusive Tourism Award

Eureka! Science + Discovery, Merseyside

Eureka! Science + Discovery was designed for children and young people up to 14 years to discover how science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics influence and shape their lives. Housed in the Seacombe Ferry Terminal building on the River Mersey, families can enjoy fun and fascinating hands-on interactive exhibits then take on fuel in the waterfront café. Physical disabilities are well catered for, as are many aspects of neurodivergence.

Camping, Glamping and Holiday Park of the Year

Polmanter Touring Park

This well-developed touring park is set on high ground, and makes an excellent choice for family holidays – high quality is evident everywhere, from the immaculate, modern toilet blocks and the state-of-the-art dog wash/grooming facility, to the outdoor swimming pool and hard tennis courts. The pitches are individually marked and sited in meadows, and the tastefully landscaped park also offers a field with full-facility hardstanding pitches to accommodate larger caravans and motorhomes. The smart reception and shop building has two upstairs apartments available for hire. The fishing port of St Ives and the beaches are just a mile and a half away, so there's plenty to do when you're not enjoying the park.

Large Visitor Attraction of the Year

Black Country Living Museum

Located in Dudley town centre, the Black Country Living Museum is an award-winning, open-air museum that connects you with stories from the 1800s to 1940s. Set in an industrial canal-side village, it brings history to life with information on the world’s first industrial landscape during the industrial revolution. The museum shows how and why the small region made a big impact on the world and is inhabited by Black Country folk, from metalworkers and miners to nurses and schoolteachers, and even a pub landlord or two. Experience live demonstrations, enjoy entertainment at the 1920s cinema and fairground, marvel over the vintage transport and canal boats, and explore the underground mine.

Self Catering Accommodation of the Year

Treworgy Cottages

Treworgey Farm has 15 beautifully restored period cottages. Each one has beautiful views over the Looe River Valley, as well as its own private garden. Visitors can enjoy roaring log fires, hand-picked antiques, luxury fabrics and modern kitchens and bathrooms. There are fantastic facilities on site, from a fully-licensed riding school to heated outdoor pool, tennis courts to spa treatments, as well as a home-cooked meal service and extensive children’s play facilities. They’re exceptionally dog-friendly too.

Small Visitor Attraction of the Year

No. 1 Royal Crescent

No. 1 Royal Crescent is a museum that has been decorated and furnished just as it might have been during the period 1776–1796. The rooms feature historic furniture, pictures and objects that reveal what life was like for Bath’s fashionable residents – both upstairs and downstairs. An immersive experience brings the house to life through film and sound so that visitors can get a very real sense of what it would have been like to live there. Popular with fans of the Netflix series, Bridgerton, as it was used as a location in the show.

Taste of England Award

The Cavendish Hotel

Part of the Duke of Devonshire’s Chatsworth hospitality empire, the Cavendish Hotel delivers classy heritage style in comfortable public areas adorned with paintings from the Duke’s collection. Guests have a choice of dining in either the informal conservatory Garden Room or the elegant Gallery Restaurant; there's a kitchen table too. The Gallery Restaurant goes for a traditional look, with views of the Estate that supplies much of the kitchen produce. Expect assured modern British cooking, with precise technical skills and easy-on-the-eye presentation.