For the third year running, the Country Barn Farm Shop in Widdrington has scooped the Rural Enterprise gong in the North East Countryside Alliance Awards, while Belsay Shop has made it two in a row as Best Village Shop/Post Office.

The honours celebrate the characters, skills, traditions and enterprise of rural communities, with businesses nominated by their customers. Judges then visit those put forward to decide the winners.

In Widdrington, the award is a timely boost for the Country Barn, which has seen a recent fall in trade.

Owner Sarah Oakey, who has claimed the award every year since opening the shop, said:
"We have won the award for the third year running, which is quite an achievement.

"I think in the current economic climate it is fantastic that people have still got faith in us and are still coming out to vote for us. It's brilliant.

"We have had a dramatic fall in trade in the last 12 months and the bad weather has really hampered business.

"We cleared snow to make sure people could get to us, but when they couldn't get out of their own street it was a problem.

"We have even been offering to take things out to people. We don't normally do a delivery service, but anything we can do to help we will.

"We are hoping for a better summer and we still have our loyal bank of customers who voted for us, which is lovely."

Judges were impressed with the customer service and dedication of the business, which was highlighted when the owners stripped, sanded and re-varnished the floor overnight, ready for opening the next morning.

Head Judge Steve Clark said: "This fantastic rural enterprise has a dedication to customers, attention to detail and a mission to please, which makes it stand out far from any other businesses."

For Belsay Shop the award also came at a good time as owner Stephanie Jarron prepares to hand over the reins to one of her workers, Laura Sym.

"I'm absolutely thrilled," said Miss Jarron.

"It is particularly exciting because I'm about to sell the shop and it is really nice for me to end like this and for Laura to get a good start.

"I think we are offering something to please everyone, whether a lorry driver buying a pie or a couple of old ladies who we deliver to quite regularly. We are also a specialist French wine merchant, which is quite unusual, and we do a paper round of 90 miles a day.

"We serve a lot of people and they in turn give us their support.

"We did lose our post office, but we became one of the first in the country to offer a partner service.