Seven Northumberland businesses took home gold at the 2025 North East England Tourism Awards ceremony, with Northumberland dominating four categories, scooping the  hotly contested Accessible and Inclusive Tourism Category and achieving gold in new accolade, The Rising Star Award.

29 Northumberland Tourism and Hospitality businesses from across Northumberland gathered at the annual awards ceremony at Newcastle’s Civic Centre alongside businesses from the whole of the North East. The 2025 award haul came as Northumberland featured in 16 of the 18 categories.

Seven Northumberland businesses were thrilled to take home the gold this year, as well as Northumberland achieving all awards in categories B&B Guesthouse of the Year, New Tourism Business of the Year, Camping, Glamping and Holiday Park of the Year and Self Catering Accommodation of the Year. 

Amongst these, one of Northumberland’s newest attractions, Ad Gefrin Anglo Saxon Museum & Whisky Distillery, picked up Gold for New Tourism Business of the Year. Visit Northumberland sponsored this category this year and this is the second year that a Northumberland business has won gold in this category, demonstrating the breadth of new experiences that the county has to offer.

Another hotly contested category was the Accessible and Inclusive Tourism Award, which was won by Whitehouse Farm. Applications for this category more than doubled this year, and this achievement demonstrates Northumberland’s commitment to creating a more inclusive future.  

Northumberland also achieved gold in one of the new awards introduced this year, The Rising Star award, which shines a light on the exciting new talent in the tourism sector. This was won by Ellie Robson of Northumberland County Show. Three new awards were introduced to showcase even more of the region’s incredible visitor economy. For the first time the public were invited to have their say in the Festivals and Event category with thousands of votes being cast for their favourite. 

The full list of Gold Northumberland winners is:  

Accessible and Inclusive Tourism Award – Whitehouse Farm 

B&B of the Year – The Beresford Arms 

Camping, Glamping and Holiday Park of the Year – Tranwell Farm Campsite 

New Tourism Business Award – Ad Gefrin Anglo Saxon Museum & Whisky Distillery 

Self-Catering Provider of the Year – The Glebe Retreat 

Small Visitor Attraction of the Year – Northumberland College Zoo  

The Rising Star – Ellie Robson, Northumberland County Show 

Andrew Fox, chair of Visit Northumberland, said: “It is amazing to see Northumberland have such a strong presence in the North East England Tourism Awards for yet another year. The outstanding outcome for Northumberland demonstrates the incredible offering we have here in the county, the quality of experiences that we can offer and the new product that continues to emerge, made clear by the fact that Northumberland has won New Tourism Business of the Year for two years running. Congratulations to everyone who received an accolade and it was an honour to watch Northumberland’s successes come to light at the awards ceremony.”

The year’s Special Contribution to Tourism Award was handed to Susan Justice, Head of Business Development, North East at Bidfood, food and drink wholesalers, for her dedication and commitment to raising the profile of the food and drink sector in the region. This is the third year the Outstanding Contribution Award has been presented with previous winners including Robson Green and Ann Cleeves, author of Vera.  

Delivered by England’s first Destination Development Partnership – Destination North East England, winners in some of the categories will now go on to compete at a national level  at the VisitEngland Awards for Excellence, held in Brighton in June.  

The Destination North East England Tourism Awards are made possible through the support of Local Visitor Economy Partnerships NewcastleGateshead Initiative, Visit Northumberland and Visit County Durham. Headline sponsors for the event were once again Bidfood and Newcastle College were Event sponsors.   

2025 Northumberland Awards Winners in full 

Accessible and Inclusive Tourism Award 

GOLD – Whitehouse Farm Centre 

BRONZE – The Alnwick Garden
 

B&B and Guest House of the Year 

GOLD – The Beresford Arms 

SILVER – Old School House, Haltwhistle 

BRONZE – Wydon Farm B&B
 

Camping, Glamping and Holiday Park of the Year 

GOLD – Tranwell Farm Campsite 

SILVER – Walkmill Campsite 

BRONZE – Vindomora Country Lodges
 

Ethical, Responsible and Sustainable Tourism Award 

SILVER – Laverock Law Cottages and Glamping 

BRONZE – Battlesteads
 

Experience of the Year 

BRONZE – Serenity Farne Island Boat Tours
 

Large Hotel of the Year 

SILVER – Matfen Hall 
 

Large Visitor Attraction of the Year 

SILVER – Ad Gefrin Anglo-Saxon Museum & Whisky Distillery 

BRONZE – Bamburgh Castle
 

New Tourism Business of the Year 

GOLD – Ad Gefrin Anglo-Saxon Museum & Whisky Distillery 

SILVER – Northumberland Nook 

BRONZE – The Tempus 

HIGHLY COMMENDED – Lilidorei at The Alnwick Garden
 

Pub of the Year 

SILVER – The Beresford Arms
 

Self Catering Accommodation of the Year 

GOLD – The Glebe Retreat  

SILVER – Doxford Cottages 

BRONZE – Chesters Stables
 

Small Hotel of the Year 

SILVER – Lord Crewe Arms, Blanchland 

BRONZE – Marshall Meadows Manor House 

HIGHLY COMMENDED – The Greenhead Hotel
 

Small Visitor Attraction of the Year 

GOLD – Northumberland College Zoo
 

Taste of North East England 

BRONZE – The Beresford Arms Whalton
 

Volunteer of the Year Award

BRONZE – Sarah Davidson, Northumberland County Show
 

The Rising Star Award  

Ellie Robson, Northumberland County Show