BROCKENCOTE Hall, the country house hotel at Chaddesley Corbett, near Bromsgrove, is in line for another top industry award. It has been shortlisted among the finalists in the small hotel of the year category of the VisitEngland Awards for Excellence 2014. The hotel reached the final stages of the competition last year when it was highly commended.

General Manager Dean Gunston: “We are absolutely delighted to make the final again and this year we hope to do even better."

The awards attracted 368 applications in 2014, an increase of 15 per cent on 2013, and James Berresford, chief executive of VisitEngland. said: “We receive hundreds of applications each year of an extremely high standard, so it’s a tremendous achievement for Brockencote Hall to become a finalist and to represent the top five in its category in England.”

The 21-bedroomed Brockencote Hall is part of the Eden Hotel Collection, seven upmarket boutique hotels located across the Midlands, the Cotswolds and the South West. In July 2011 Eden bought Brockencote Hall from private owners who had spent years converting the Victorian mansion into a hotel. It closed for a six-week refurbishment costing £6m.

Brockencote Hall has enjoyed huge awards success in the past 12 months. It won the best hotel award in the Visit Worcestershire Awards for Excellence 2013, while its restaurant was awarded three AA rosettes in the 2014 AA Restaurant Guide. It also won AA inspectors’ choice / four red stars for accommodation.

The VisitEngland Awards for Excellence 2014 ceremony is on May 12 at Cheltenham Racecourse.