A REFURBISHED village pub in south Worcestershire, which was under starter’s orders just 18 months ago, has romped past the finishing post to win a prestigious award for its food.

The Jockey at Baughton, Earls Croome, was nominated by its customers in the Good Food Guide Local Restaurant of the Year Awards 2016 and galloped ahead to take the Regional Winner for the Midlands.

The pub is owned by Rebekah Seddon-Wickens and reopened in February 2015 after a three-year refurbishment and extension project costing more than £1 million. Rebekah studied architecture at university and worked on the pub’s layout and interior designs herself.

The Waitrose owned Good Food Guide has praised the pub for its “please-all menu of generous pub staples served alongside dependable dishes”.

Rebekah said: “We are absolutely delighted and honoured to win this award which recognises all of the hard work and dedication that I and my team have put into making The Jockey Inn a huge success story.

“We are thrilled our efforts have been recognised by such an authority on good food. We have worked tirelessly to put our small, rural village in Worcestershire firmly on the culinary map.

“I wish to extend a huge thank you to our customers for their nominations and to all of my team for their ongoing shared passion and hard work. We’ll definitely be popping a few corks to celebrate.”

The Jockey’s Michelin-trained head chef James Garth, who spent more than 10 years at Colwall Park Hotel, makes the most of the local produce the region has to offer and his menu has a strong focus on fruit and vegetables which are grown in the area including strawberries from Ledbury, asparagus from Evesham along with eggs from a farm just down the road.

The Good Food Guide’s Local Restaurant of the Year Awards aim to encourage diners to look much closer to home and champion the unsung restaurants right on their doorstep that have previously slipped under the radar.

After sifting through 30,000 nominations, the editors of the guide announced the top dining establishments in each of 10 different UK regions. The awards are based on public nominations with a panel of guide judges choosing the most outstanding for their overall winner. This year it was Wine & Brine, in Moira, Northern Ireland.

Elizabeth Carter, Waitrose Good Food Guide editor, said: “The simple formula of a kitchen that cooks fresh to order is the very principle on which our guide was founded.

“We have always maintained that the best restaurants offer creative, memorable food based on quality, seasonal and local produce. In other words no pretensions or gimmicks - just first-class food cooked from ingredients deeply rooted in the region.

“A commitment to their community and a strong relationship with local suppliers is what makes a restaurant truly local.”

She added: “I can’t think of a more fun pub than Rebekah Seddon-Wickens’ rejuvenated inn. It has a quirky but appealing modern outlook, a genuinely lovely line in hospitality and an army of loyal fans, drawn by the please-all menu of generous pub staples served alongside dependable dishes that run with the seasons.”