SALAD Days beach hut at Dunster Beach has been awarded bronze for dog friendly business of the year in the Visit England Tourism Excellence Awards.

The awards, held annually, are the culmination of all of England’s regional tourism awards.

To reach this stage, all finalists have to have won at county and regional level first and need to be the best in their chosen field. Businesses have to offer world-class service and excel in all areas.

Brett Bates and Susan Juggins, of Salad Days, won gold for dog friendly business of the year and silver for self-catering business of the year at the Bristol, Bath and Somerset Tourism Awards last November.

They then repeated the accolade at the South West Tourism Excellence Awards in February.

Brett and Susan were then taken aback to find that Salad Days had been nominated for the prestigious Visit England Awards last month: “And now to have gone on to be awarded bronze is just incredible,” said Brett.