Wasing Park barn wedding venue in Aldermaston, Berkshire, has won the South of England, Countryside Alliance Award for Best Rural Enterprise. The Countryside Alliance Awards award top businesses from across England, Scotland and Wales competing for their regional titles and the chance of UK-wide acclaim.

The awards aim to celebrate the characters, skills, traditions and enterprise of the countryside through the people who work so hard to make it work.

Head Judge Sara Rutherford says: “The Wasing Estate itself has been around for hundreds of years, and within its 4,000 acre site 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. Not only this but local produce is used where possible, many local people are employed, and Wasing Park even appeared in the BBC TV series, Cranford! This is a truly impressive enterprise, and has breathed new life into a rural estate that was in need of some TLC.”