Combe House wins 'Excellence in Tourism' award
Combe House, near Exeter has won the coveted South West 'Excellence in Tourism' Small Hotel of the Year Award for 2007 - 2008. The awards, known as the 'Tourism Oscars', celebrate the finest in the West Country and aim to promote and reward the very best in the tourism industry.
Entrants need to demonstrate exemplary facilities and exceptionally high qualities of customer care reflecting the demands of today's traveller. In addition, it's important they show a commitment to sustainability, recycling and the environment. The awards are run by South West Tourism in association with First Great Western and South West Water.
As the gold winner in their category, Combe House will automatically go forward to represent the region in the national Enjoy England Awards for Excellence, which are being held in Liverpool in April 2008.
Owners Ken and Ruth Hunt are thrilled with the award, "This unexpected honour reflects back on the wonderful, welcoming, happy and hard working team whom we regard as our family," said Ken. "We couldn't have achieved it without them."
This award follows on Combe's winning the prestigious Country Hotel of the Year 2007 César award from the Good Hotel Guide, the leading independent guide to hotels of character and quality in Great Britain and Ireland. The annual César awards are given to special places each of which is considered to be outstanding in its own class. They are named after César Ritz, the most celebrated of all hoteliers.
Historic Combe House, a privately owned and wildly romantic Grade I Elizabethan manor, is hidden on a secluded wooded estate where Arabian horses and pheasants roam freely. Accommodation is in fifteen luxurious en-suite bedrooms and suites, some with four-posters and stunning views across the valley to Dartmoor beyond. Tucked away at the entrance to the mile-long drive is the newly restored Combe Thatch Cottage - a romantic hideaway for two with its own private walled garden.
Combe House has won numerous hotel and dining awards for its contemporary-British cuisine created by its two resident Master Chefs of Great Britain; the most recent was Taste of the West 2007 Restaurant Class Silver Award.
www.thishotel.com
