WASING Estate has been pipped to the post for the top title in the Countryside Alliance Best Rural Enterprise Awards.
Wasing at Aldermaston was voted southern regional winner in January and a team from the estate attended a reception at the House of Lords for the award finals on Wednesday, February 3.
Nicknamed the “Rural Oscars”, the Countryside Alliance Awards, now in their fifth year, aim to celebrate the characters, skills, traditions and enterprise of the countryside through the people who work so hard to make it tick.
This year’s Awards attracted a record 2,500 nominations from the public, and regional finalists across four categories included village shops and post offices, butchers, breweries, pubs, cheese makers, feed merchants, smokeries, tea rooms, hotels, ice-cream makers, farm shops and even an oysterage.
Although Wasing missed out on the top award, finals judge Sara Rutherford said: “The Wasing Estate itself has been around for hundreds of years, and within its 4,000 acres there is now a wedding and conference venue in a sympathetic and enterprising re-working of an old estate.
“One of Wasing’s main objectives was to bring the community together through holding a variety of events such as the film club, Christmas carol concert and functions for local schools and fundraising events for charities.”
She added: “Not only this but local produce is used where possible, many local people are employed, and Wasing even appeared in the BBC TV series, Cranford!
“This is a truly impressive enterprise.”
Estate owner Joshua Dugdale said: "We believe that the future of rural estates is based around their ability to become a hub in the local community. An estate is vitally important to many many people in the local area both directly and indirectly - a thriving estate means a thriving community.
“This is about so much more than the bottom line, and in winning this award our amazing team have shown you can be a financially successful and, importantly, a socially responsible business even in a recession.”