You can download a copy here

[...]]]> Cumbria tourism have just published their Tourism Brochure for 2009. It is packed with useful information about places to go and things to do, and on page 69 it mentions a certain web site that won the Cumbria Tourism Website of the Year competition

You can download a copy here

So last night was the North West Tourism awards. We went down to Liverpool where the awards took place in the magnificent St George’s Hall.

Sadly for us the Tourism Web Site of The Year for the North West Award didn’t come our way – It went instead to The Museum of Science and Industry in [...]]]> .

So last night was the North West Tourism awards. We went down to Liverpool where the awards took place in the magnificent St George’s Hall.

Sadly for us the Tourism Web Site of The Year for the North West Award didn’t come our way – It went instead to The Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester. We were just flattered to be competing in such exalted company and we had an ace time.

As the sign post in the picture below sums up – I hope we came close!

The awards were presented by Laurence Llewellyn-Bowen so Linda and Liz were very miffed not to have the chance of going up for a kiss, but everything was alright again when he appeared next to us during the buffet. He really seems a nice guy and he was just soooo charming when they asked if he’d mind having his picture taken with them. It must be a right pain and he was extremely gracious about it.

Liz and Gary who had come with us to lend support were made up when the evening’s entertainment started and it was some bloke called Rhydian from the X -factor. They were even happier when they realised that we didn’t have a clue who he was (we must be the only people in the country who don’t watch it) so they could take the mickey again. He was really good though and he had the perfect setting for his Phantom of the Opera song as you can see below!

All in all we had a great run and we are really proud to have won the Cumbria Award that got us here. And well done M.O.S.I – A worthy winner!

We’ve had such a lot of fun that maybe we’ll try again another year!

Even though it’s hardly peak season just now we weren’t able to book [...]]]> We decided to celebrate the opening of Kingfisher Lodge by going out with our friends Julie and Karen (Check out J&K’s Jikiden Reiki site) into Bowness on Saturday night for an Italian meal at Villa Positano on Ash Street – 015394 45663 .

Even though it’s hardly peak season just now we weren’t able to book a table for Saturday night until 8:45! When we arrived the place was heaving and the staff were coping heroically with a huge number of people. It’s a nice place and we had a great evening. No sign of the economic downturn in this restaurant.

We got up this morning and did a quick Dubbs Reservoir 5 miler to make up for the extra garlic bread. There are still a suprising number of flowers out – red campion and cornflowers especially, and the berries and hips keep the trees colourful. We made it before the promised gales put in an appearance.

Back home shortly and then to Liverpool on Wednesday for the finals of the North West Tourism Awards. The other web sites we are up against are all really high quality – so we are a really just going for craic (OK – with a sneaky hope that something amazing could happen). It should be a great evening anyway.

We had a super time at the Castle Green Hotel in Kendal where the awards were hosted. We had a lovely view from [...]]]> Well we took two days away on Tuesday and Wednesday to attend the annual Cumbria Tourism Awards as we had entered for the “Tourism Website of the Year” award.

We had a super time at the Castle Green Hotel in Kendal where the awards were hosted. We had a lovely view from our room and the service was impeccable.

We had lunch at The Watermill at Ings – one of the traditional Lakeland pubs where they serve bar food and great beer without any airs and graces – highly recommended!

In the afternoon we went for a lovely walk up Jenkyn Crag. The ransomes (wild garlic) are out and the scent was almost overpowering.

We were up against some very stiff competition for the web site award from 3 very professional outfits – Mullin Design, English Lakes Hotels and South Lakeland Parks who own Limefitt Park.

Nobody was more surprised than me when they read out the winner’s name and it was US!!

The web site has taken up a lot of my time, and it was fantastic to see the effort rewarded like this. It was also really gratifying to see the way in which SLP were so generous with their congratulations! (Who said irony is dead eh girls? )

We rounded off the trip with a visit to Levens Hall which was looking stunning in the spring sunshine. Well worth a visit!