Family-run business celebrates winning multiple county tourism awards

John and Holly Houghton run a very popular garden centre, restaurant plus a camping and caravan park at The Grange at Asfordby Hill.

And last night (Wednesday) the business scooped three major awards and a highly commended at the prestigious Leicestershire Promotions 2025 Tourism and Hospitality Awards.

The camping and caravan park, which is managed by John, won the awards for ‘Camping, Glamping and Holiday Park’ and for ‘Regenerative Tourism’

And The Grange Garden Centre, which Holly manages, won the ‘Best Tearoom/Coffee Shop’ class and was highly commended for ‘Best Breakfast’.

It was a good night for another local hospitality business as Melton’s Welcome Cafe was highly commended in the ‘Best Tearoom/Coffee Shop’ category.

Staff at Gates Garden Centre, at Cold Overton, are celebrating being named ‘Best Garden Centre’ in the county.

The team at Sysonby Knoll Hotel, in Melton, were delighted to be highly commended in the ‘Small Hotel’ section and there was also great news for staff at Melton Carnegie Museum as they were highly commended for the ‘Best Team’ class.

Organisers of the 1940s Melton Mowbray weekend, which attracts thousands of nostalgia enthusiasts to the town every May, are pleased to receive a highly commended accolade for the ‘Best Free Event’ category.

Judges also gave highly commended ratings to the Hidden Food Tours, Melton Mowbray team (‘Experience of the Year’) and to local historian Brian Fare for his popular HistoryFare tours (‘Accessibilty & Inclusion Tourism’).

Awards were presented at Leicester’s Athena – this was the 15th year it was held – with the awards acting as the regional heat of the national VisitEngland Awards for Excellence.

Martin Peters, chief executive of Leicestershire Promotions, said: “Tourism is a high pressure industry and it’s vital we recognise excellence across the sector.

"We pride ourselves on the most rigorous assessment process, and finalists and winners receive invaluable feedback to help them develop their businesses further.

"Thirteen of our winners now go forward to the national VisitEngland Awards next spring, so we wish them well and congratulate all our winners.”

The other category winners were: Small Hotel – Winstanley House; Large Hotel – Crowne Plaza East Midlands Airport; Self-Catering Accommodation – Marsh Mallow Cottage; Business Event Venue – Novotel Leicester;

Small Visitor Attraction – King Richard III Visitor Centre; Large Attraction – Manor Farm Park & Woodlands; Experience of the Year – The Spa at Breedon Priory; Pub of the Year – The Griffin Inn, Swithland; Special Occasion Dining – Mallories; New Tourism Business – The Old Plough, Birstall; Accessibilty & Inclusion Tourism – Novotel Leicester; Best Free Event – Light Up Leicester; Best Free Event (fundraiser) – Groby Rocks; Best Event/Festival (paid entry) – The Victory Show; Best Team – The Victory Show; Rising Star – Duncan Reed, 1620s House & Gardens; Best Breakfast – Bar Dos Hermanos; Best Sunday Lunch – Black Iron, Winstanley House; Best Casual Dining – The White Horse, Birstall; Best Dog Friendly Venue – Everards Beer Hall; Best Cocktail Experience – S.O.A.K Cocktail Co; Best Day Out in Leicestershire – Great Central Railway.