Introducing the finalists in the 2015 Rural Oscars

The finalists in the 2015 Countryside Alliance Awards (aka the Rural Oscars) have been announced, with rural businesses from across the country in contention for national honours at the Parliamentary finals in the Spring.

The Awards are the Countryside Alliance’s annual celebration of rural produce, skills, enterprise and heritage through our small hard-working businesses. They are now in their eleventh year and have become the definitive rural business award to win. The Awards are public-nomination led across four categories: Local Food; Village Shop/ Post Office; Butcher and Tourism Enterprise. Thousands of nominations were received and the judges have selected ten finalists in each category.

The finalists on their way to London are:

Local Food finalists

• Gog Magog Hills Farm Shop in Cambridgeshire

• Ben's Restaurant at Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk

• The Kings Arms Inn at Wing in Rutland

• Farndon Fields Farm Shop in Leicestershire

• Blue Tin Produce in Oxfordshire

• Battlefield 1403 Farm Shop in Shropshire

• Bride Valley Farm Shop in Dorset

• Padstow Farm Shop in Cornwall

• Langthornes Buffalo Produce, North Yorkshire

• Lower Clopton Farm Shop, Warwickshire

Village Shop finalists

• Haughley Post Office, Suffolk

• The Heath Stores, Kent

• Sherborne Village Shop, Gloucestershire

• Motcombe Community Shop, Dorset

• Barkers of Huby, North Yorkshire

• Kings Walden Post Office Store, Hitchin

• St Tudy Community Shop and Post Office, Cornwall

• Woods of Whitchurch, Herefordshire

• Bardon Mill Village Store, Northumberland

• Churchinford and District Community Shop, Devon

• Beech Hill Village Shop, Berkshire

• Barford Village Community Shop, Warwickshire

Tourism Enterprise finalists

• Dalegate Market, Norfolk

• Jordan's Mill, Bedfordshire

• Drusillas Park, East Sussex

• Harveys Brewery, West Sussex

• The Burnham on Sea Food & Drink Festival, Somerset

• Thame Food Festival, Oxfordshire

• Shrewsbury Food Festival, Shropshire

• Loyton Lodge, Devon

• New Lodge Farm, Northamptonshire

• Narrow Waters, Cambridgeshire

Butcher finalists

• The Egg House Charcuterie, Buckinghamshire

• The Pointer Butcher, Buckinghamshire

• A Johnson & Son Ltd, Staffs

• Arthur Howell, Norfolk

• Clive Downs Butchers of Porlock, Somerset

• John Robinson of Stockbridge, Hampshire

• Veysey's Cullompton, Devon

• John Hutton Butchers, Suffolk

• G F White Traditional Butchers, Norfolk

• MB Farms Produce Ltd, Kent

Countryside Alliance Awards Director Jill Grieve commented: “These finalists are all exceptional – we have been overwhelmed by nominations this year so for them to get this far is a huge achievement. The secret to the Rural Oscars’ popularity is that they honour the people involved in these businesses and not just their produce or services.

They exist to sing the praises of those who work hard to keep our communities and rural economy ticking, but don’t seek the spotlight. We are delighted to offer this platform to enable people to say “thank you” to them for all they contribute. I wish all of these businesses well as judging gets underway, there are going to be some hard decisions ahead.”