A CUMBRIA family is celebrating its success of a slice of the north down south.

Tebay Services's southern counterpart Gloucester Services has been shortlisted for the Best Food Retailer category of the BBC Food and Farming Awards.

Reaching the final three in the prestigious national awards is the latest of several nods to Gloucester Services’s work in the food industry and local community.

The Westmorland Family operate the only family run services on UK roads.

CEO Sarah Dunning said: "We are delighted that our work has been recognised by the BBC Food and Farming Awards.

"Local food is at the heart of everything we make and eat, and we are proud to do this in a way which supports and makes us part of the local community.”

The sister project of the acclaimed Tebay Services, it opened in May last year and unlike any other services in Britain, it aims to make local food not just the preserve of elite shops and farmers' markets, but accessible and affordable to everyone on the move.

Like Tebay, Gloucester Services employs a dedicated local food sourcing manager to stock their farm shop, selling locally produced food.

It runs a butchery featuring Gloucestershire’s finest meat and a kitchen serving homemade dishes produced fresh daily using locally sourced ingredients.

Ms Dunning added: “We are committed to celebrating and supporting the small local businesses and their fantastic produce. Back then it was visionary, today, we’re part of a local food revolution. Fingers tightly crossed for the final!"

Sheila Dillon, presenter of Radio 4’s The Food Programme and host of the awards said: “I’ve been judging these awards since they were set up and I’ve never before felt so strongly that food and farming are changing the UK.

"Many of the best, most entrepreneurial, engaged minds are now in the food business.”