AN AWARDS night celebrating Hampshire’s diverse countryside has recognised projects for their hard work.

The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) Hampshire Countryside Awards was held in Itchen Abbas, and commended groups for their work celebrating the county’s diverse countryside.

Blackwood Forest Holidays, based in Micheldever, won the Rural Enterprise category. (pictured below)

Hampshire Chronicle:

Matt Gilks, of Dutton Gregory Solicitors which sponsored the award, said: “The project highlights the tension between the preservation and the enterprise imperatives which challenge all of us as we try to stand up for the countryside and preserve its inherent and irreplaceable beauty, but at the same time, endeavour to ensure there remain the conditions for sustainable economic development in the countryside for all those living and working in the locality as well as its visitors.”

The Brook Meadow Conservation Group, based in Emsworth, scooped the prize in the Community and Voluntary category, Anstey Junior School in Alton won the Young People section, and Avon Tyrrell Boat House in the New Forest won the Green Buildings category.

The Woodland Walk at Kings Worthy Primary School was highly commended, as was the Otterbourne Wildlife Lodge, Round About Cafe, in Southampton, and Piecing Together the Hampshire Food Jigsaw, which is part of the county council’s catering services.

Each of the winners received an engraved plaque, presented by Winchester and Chandler’s Ford MP Steve Brine.