AN ABINGDON guest house is celebrating winning a top tourism award for making sure visitors with a disability get a warm welcome.

Abbey Guest House in Oxford Road has been awarded a coveted Silver Award in the Access and Inclusivity Award category at the Beautiful South Awards, which recognises provision made for guests with a disability or impairment.

The accolade came after the guest house achieved a highly commended award in the previously titled Access for All Tourism category last year

The guest house was also highly commended in the Best B&B/Guest Accommodation of the Year Category of the 2016 awards, having been awarded Silver in that same category last year.

Abbey Guest House owner Terry Boswell said: "This is such an amazing achievement.

"I find it extremely gratifying and also humbling to be recognised for all the time and investment I have made to ensure that virtually any guest can stay – irrespective of any disability or impairment.

"I am being recognised for providing a service which actually is something I just really enjoy doing as I love to meet new people and make them feel at home and comfortable.

"As regional finalists we have now been entered into the Visit England awards in 2017, where we will be competing against many larger organisations that have funding from many different sources.

"We will do our best to compete and feel extremely honoured to represent our region at this level."

The Beautiful South Awards ceremony last month was held at the Ageas Bowl hotel in Southampton, with 20 different awards being recognised and presented.

Established over 20 years ago, the awards recognise excellence, quality, innovation and customer service at tourism locations across the South East.