TWO small, family-run businesses in the same West Somerset village have won a prestigious Tripadvisor Travelers’ Choice Award.

The Hood Arms pub and Pardlestone Farm bed and breakfast scooped the 2021 accolade, showing their small village of Kilve can offer world-standard hospitality.

The award celebrates businesses which consistently deliver high quality experiences to travellers and diners around the world, having earned top traveller reviews on Tripadvisor over the last 12 months.

It places these two businesses in the top 10 per cent of their type worldwide and also highlights Somerset’s Quantock Hills as an exceptional holiday destination.

The Hood – already an award winner – is a favourite with locals and holiday-makers, offering warm hospitality and a high standard of dining, while Pardlestone Farm has become a sought-after destination for those who love the rural scene, even offering stabling for guests who bring their horses.

Somerset County Gazette:

Paul and Tracey Cuff, who own and run the Hood and Mark Belcher and Ann Hardy, owners and hosts at Pardlestone Farm, say they’re thrilled their guests have enjoyed their hospitality, and feel overcome by the kindness and generosity of the reviews they’ve received.

In a joint statement, they said: “We all love what we do and have great people helping us, and we’re delighted this has fed through to our customers and guests.

“Kilve itself has the most remarkable Jurassic coastline which may be less well-known than England’s south coast but we think is more spectacular.

“Alongside the coast we also have the wilderness of the Quantock Hills – arguably the West Country’s best-kept secret.

"Many of our guests enjoy walking, mountain-biking and horse-riding across the heathlands and into the deep, wooded combes for which the area is renowned. In doing so, they are following in the footsteps of two of England’s greatest poets, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth, who lived in the area and found their inspiration in its landscape.”

Congratulating the 2021 winners, Kanika Soni, chief commercial officer at Tripadvisor, said: “I know the past year has been extremely challenging for tourism businesses.

"What has impressed me is how businesses adapted to these challenges, implementing new cleanliness measures, adding social distancing guidelines, and utilising technology to prioritise guest safety.

"The Travelers’ Choice Awards highlight the places that are consistently excellent - delivering quality experiences time and time again even while navigating changing customer expectations and new ways of working.

"Based on a full year of reviews from customers, this award speaks to the great service and experience you provided guests in the midst of a pandemic.”