CHADDESLEY Corbett-based Brockencote Hall Hotel has been named as a finalist in the Small Hotel of the Year category of the VisitEngland Awards for Excellence 2014.

General manager Dean Gunston said the 21-bedroom hotel, was a finalist in the same category at the VisitEngland 2013 Awards, when it was highly commended. “We are absolutely delighted to make the final again and this year we hope to do even better,” he added.

James Berresford, chief executive of VisitEngland, said the awards attracted 368 applications in 2014, an increase of 15 per cent on 2013.

“We receive hundreds of applications each year of an extremely high standard, so it’s a tremendous achievement for Brockencote Hall to become a finalist and to represent the top five in their category in England,” he explained.

Brockencote Hall is part of the Eden Hotel Collection, seven boutique hotels located across the Midlands, the Cotswolds and the South West. In July, 2011 Eden bought Brockencote Hall from private owner,s who had spent years converting the Victorian mansion into a hotel. It closed for a six-week refurbishment costing £6 million.

Mr Gunston said: “Since reopening in 2012, our aim has been to restore Brockencote Hall to its former glory and create a classic, high-end dining and accommodation destination for both local residents and visitors to the county.”

Brockencote Hall has secured awards success over the past year. It won the Best Hotel Award in the Visit Worcestershire Awards for Excellence 2013, while its restaurant was awarded three AA Rosettes in the 2014 AA Restaurant Guide, one of the organisation’s most prestigious accolades for food, with just 10 per cent of the restaurants listed in the g holding three Rosettes and above.

It also won AA Inspectors’ Choice/4 Red Stars for accommodation.

The awards ceremony takes place on May 12 at Cheltenham Racecourse.