THE landlord of The Three Crowns in Chagford has spoken of his delight at winning gold in the Pub of the Year category in the Visit Devon Tourism Awards.

Steve Bellman, who runs the historic inn with his partner John Milan, said they and their staff were ‘overjoyed’ to win.

‘We got bronze last year and I think we had a highly commended at one point but we have never had gold, so in terms of Visit Devon that puts us at number one in the county,’ he said. ‘It is absolutely fantastic because there was some stiff competition this year.

‘It has been a challenging year but it really is all about the team. We have got such a good team at The Three Crowns. It really is down to them, they put their all into it and it has reaped results. It is also very positive for Chagford, as well as benefiting our business it will have a knock on effect on the town as a whole.’

The awards were announced at a virtual ceremony on Thursday last week, after what has been a very difficult year for the county’s hospitality industry. Steve added: ‘Things were certainly different this year and, as well as the awards being delayed by various Covid restrictions, the judging had to be undertaken differently and there were no mystery visits. Our entry form — along with our online presence, social media activity, reputation management and our hard work to be a Covid-secure business — have all formed part of the overall results.’

Winning silver in the B&B and guesthouse category at the awards were Angela Plews and her husband Steve for their B&B Barnabas House in Yelverton. They watched the ceremony online from their own home, and were over the moon and surprised to win silver. Angela said: ‘In the last 12 month period we have only been open for three months, but the winners are based on your previous years and online reviews, your website and social media.’

‘We were given an hour slot and they went through all the categories and announced the winners and everybody was able to do a thank you speech and then it moved on. They have said to us they are going to do an after award event at Pennywell Farm in July so that we can meet each other and catch up properly. We have bookings from May 17 and we have four lots of regulars booked in and we hope everything will go ahead, so we remain positive. This is something nice, it has really given us a boost.’

Winning silver in the glamping category was Julia Martin, who runs Devon Yurt on her farm at Kelly near Lifton and won gold last year. ‘We are delighted because it wasn’t the easiest of years,’ she said. ‘I had a slot to take part at 11.30am in the morning, wearing black tie and slippers. It was really funny. The tourism award people are great and they send us a goody box with things from Plymouth Gin and Foxcombe Bakehouse. It was a shame not to meet everyone this year, because that is part of it as running a tourism business can be quite isolating, but this still felt like being part of it.’ Also winning a silver was the YHA’s Adventure Okehampton, based at the youth hostel in Okehampton, which won silver in the ‘active and sporting experience of the year’ category. Also winning gold was the Horn of Plenty at Gulworthy near Tavistock,