A SOUTH Lakeland railway station has beaten off competition from Europe to go on to win an international award.

Windermere railway station was crowned Best Small Station in Europe at an awards ceremony in Belfast last week - the same award scooped by Grange-over-Sands railway station last year.

Mick Elliott, First TransPennine Express station manager was “over the moon” to receive the award.

He said: “I wasn’t expecting it at all. We won it last year for Grange-over-Sands so I thought we’d already had it in our area so we weren’t going to get it for Windermere. It’s a brilliant feeling.”

Mr Elliott believed that Windermere’s station stood out from the crowd because it is "integral to the community."

He added: “And the staff are excellent. We’ve got some fantastic staff – cleaners and the booking office. They keep it in perfect working order. The judges came and saw it but it’s not just for the competition, it really is kept that nice. That’s exactly how it is 365 days of the year.”