A DEVON restaurant has been named the eighth best rated fine dining establishment in the UK by the 2014 Travellers’ Choice Restaurants awards, announced today by TripAdvisor, the world’s largest travel site*.

The awards honour travellers' favourite fine dining establishments worldwide, based on the millions of valuable reviews and opinions on TripAdvisor.

This year, Gidleigh Park was named the ninth best rated restaurant in the UK, making it the second year running that it was named among the country’s best fine dining restaurants by TripAdvisor travellers.

Michael Caines, Executive Head Chef at Gidleigh Park said: “We’re honoured to win a Traveller’s Choice award, which is a great reflection of the team here at Gidleigh Park, who work so hard to deliver consistently excellent and exciting menus. While it’s always a great feeling to win awards, those from Trip Advisor are amongst the most welcome, being decided by those who matter most – those who dine with us. As we enter a new season, we look forward to hearing valuable feedback again via TripAdvisor on our new autumn menus”.

“This award is not just great news for Gidleigh Park, it is great news for Devon too,” commented TripAdvisor spokesperson, James Kay: “Over half of British travellers have visited a particular destination just to go to a specific restaurant, so a great fine dining establishment can give a real visitor boost not just to that business, but to the local area as well.”

The strength of the UK’s fine dining sector was underlined with three entrants in the world’s top ten best-rated list – Daniel Clifford’s Midsummer House in Cambridge at number two, Raymond Blanc’s Le Manoir Aux Quat’Saisons in Great Milton at number eight and Michel Roux Jr.’s Le Gavroche in London at number nine.

In fact, the UK is home to more of the world’s top ten fine dining restaurants than any other country bar Spain.

The coveted title of number one restaurant in the world has gone to Spain’s El Celler de Can Roca in Girona which is run by the Roca brothers, Josep, Jordi and Joan who serve up dishes such as Lobster parmentier with black trumpets, a dish so successful it has been on the menu since 1988.

A survey of over 3,000 British travellers by TripAdvisor also revealed that a third (33%) have visited a restaurant because of its celebrity chef, while more than two thirds of those who go to fine dining restaurants (69%) seek recommendations from online reviews.