CUMBRIAN companies have been praised by judges in an international competition to reward the most environmentally friendly businesses.

New Ing Lodge at Shap won the top accolade as Britain's Best Hostel in the annual Green Tourism Goldstar Awards while Ullswater Steamers in Glenridding just missed out on winning Best Visitor Attraction but was Highly Commended.

Five businesses in the county were praised by the judges for their efforts in supporting and promoting sustainability.

They were among 60 finalists from across the UK and Canada out of a total of more than 2,000 contenders whittled down by the judges to make the short-list of nominations for 15 award categories.

Andrea Nicholas, Director of Green Tourism, said: "The Goldstar Awards are a recognition of the best of the best in Britain when it comes to creating and maintaining a thriving sustainable tourism industry.

“Just being nominated is a major achievement in itself as there were so many high quality entrants for the Awards this year.

"The finalists represent the top 3 per cent of Green Tourism businesses in the UK.”

Now in their fourth year, the annual awards honour those businesses and organisations that have done the most to promote sustainability within the industry by implementing cost-saving practices that help the environment, improve customer services and benefit the bottom line.

This year's winners were announced at the annual Green Tourism Conference held at the Palace Hotel in Manchester.

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