TATTON Park Farm and Cottons Hotel and Spa at Knutsford are celebrating major tourism accolades.

The winners of the 14th Marketing Cheshire Annual Tourism Awards were announced at a glittering awards ceremony at Chester’s Carden Park Hotel.

The awards, which were attended by 300 guests representing attractions, hotels and businesses across the county, celebrated excellence and outstanding achievement in Cheshire tourism.

The businesses are part of Cheshire’s booming tourist economy, which according to latest figures is worth £3.5 billion and employs 36,000 people.

Tatton Park Farm won the award for Tourism Experience or Event of the Year for its Field to Fork attraction, and Cottons Hotel and Spa won Hotel of the Year.

Cottons Hotel and Spa General Manager Steve Ogden said: “This is fantastic news for all the team here.

“Cheshire has a booming tourism economy with many places to stay, so we know competition for this award would have been fierce and we couldn’t be more delighted to be named Hotel of the Year.

“We have seen a lot of changes at the hotel in the last 12 months, as we’ve refurbished the spa, meeting rooms, bedrooms and the restaurant.

"And in doing so we have tried to capture the spirit of Cheshire as it really is a great place for people to visit and we want to show off our local area and attractions.

“Winning this award shows we are making a great impression with our investment and I’m proud of all the team who have worked hard to make the hotel stand out.”

The 14th Marketing Cheshire Annual Tourism Awards celebrated excellence and outstanding achievement in Cheshire tourism. A total of 16 awards were presented across all areas of the tourism industry.

Team of the Year went to the Champagne Bar team at Mottram Hall, while The Mere Golf Resort and Spa and Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre were highly commended in the Restaurant of the Year and Sustainable Tourism categories respectively.

Katrina Michel, out-going chief executive of Marketing Cheshire and winner of this year’s Special Contribution to Tourism Award, said: “Cheshire has an extraordinary range of sites, attractions and accommodation that inspire tourists to visit from home and abroad.

“Importantly it also has world-class tourist professionals with the creativity, hard work and flair to bring it all to life.

“This winning combination is reflected in seven years of consecutive growth in Cheshire’s tourism industry, which is an enormous achievement.

“I know the county’s tourism will continue to go from strength to strength.

“There is lots of competition, but with money, integrated thinking and the chance to bring to life just a fraction of the creative ideas, I have absolutely no doubt that Cheshire’s tourism is up to this challenge.”

During the evening the awards ceremony riffed on the theme of ‘Peaky Blinders’ which was filmed in Cheshire - including a fun Peaky Blinders-style casino and a Peaky Blinder lookalike character.

Celebrations continued into the night, with guests dancing to Cheshire band Soul Revolver.