OWNERS of The Kettlewell Hostel are over the moon after winning a prestigious Rose Award from Visit England.

The independent youth hostel in the Dales village is one of just a hundred bed and breakfasts, hotels, and campsites across the country to be recognised in the annual awards of England’s official tourist agency.

Husband and wife team, Saul and Floss Ward, bought the hostel from the Youth Hostel Association in 2015. Since then, they have revitalised the hostel, which has 11 rooms and sleeps up to 42 people, bringing a real excellence in customer service and an element of design to the building.

The hostel was nominated for the award by an inspector for VisitEngland, which carries out annual checks, and the couple had no idea they had even in the running, until they were told they had won - out of thousands of accommodation providers across the country.

“We are very happy indeed, especially as we are just a hostel, “ said Floss, who explained after being nominated, VisitEngland would have carried out further investigations, such as user reviews, to see if they were deserving of the award.

Saul added: “We aim to provide, not only, exceptionally good value accommodation and home cooked food using local ingredients, but also a place nice to spend time in with a second hand bookshop for guests to enjoy. We try to look after people well and we hoped that by being good to our guests they would spread the word and this would bring more people to this amazing area, and it has certainly worked,” said Saul.

“Although we have nearly 150 five star reviews from our customers already, we are not resting on our laurels, we have already started working on the next phase of renovations in our gardens for next year and have plans to improve more of the building over the next few years.

“We would like to say thanks to all of our customers that have taken the time to write their kind and thoughtful reviews over the last few years, it really gives us a boost after a long day to know that people had a good time.”

The Rose awards were announced last week at the Independent Hotel Show in London. Patricia Yates, director of VisitEngland, speaking at the event, said:”From bed and breakfasts in beautiful countryside and glamorous glamping, to boutique hotels to quintessentially English pubs with rooms, a range of outstanding accommodation providers right across the country are being recognised. It is the human touch that these people provide that make visitors’ experiences memorable, ensuring repeat business and helping the industry thrive.”