Cornwall regained its title as Best UK Holiday County/Region at last night’s British Travel Awards.

Cornwall missed out in 2018 on winning Gold for a tenth successive year, but exacted revenge last night, pushing last year’s surprise winner, Northumberland, back to Silver, with the Peak District and Derbyshire awarded Bronze.

The glittering awards were presented at Battersea Evolution in London to an audience of 900 senior travel executives and representatives from consumer and trade media.

The results came from the largest ever poll of public opinion on the best performing enterprises in leisure travel and tourism. The winners were determined solely by the number of consumer votes cast between July 1 and September 30 with the counts verified by professional business consultants, Deloitte.

Malcolm Bell, chief executive of Visit Cornwall, was delighted to have regained the accolade.

“It’s great news that Cornwall has won Best UK Holiday Region for ten out of the last 11 years,” he said.

“This is not only an accolade for Cornwall but more importantly the 50,000 people who work in the Cornish tourism industry and the thousands of businesses that strive so hard to deliver an excellent experience.”

It wasn’t the only Cornish success on the night, with Cornish Gems being named Best (Southern) UK Holiday Cottage Company.

Cornish Gems specialises at the luxury end of the market, offering a collection of over 180 properties across the county.

Co-founder, Julianne Shelton, said: “It’s an honour to win gold, and represent Cornwall, at the British Travel Awards. It’s a very exciting milestone and achievement that means so much to us as it is voted for by our loyal guests, property owners and the community of Cornwall. Truly a testament to our hard-working team and the beautiful homes we’re so fortunate to look after.”