The Museum of East Dorset has struck gold.

The museum, which is based in a Grade II* listed historic house Wimborne, won the ‘Small Visitor Attraction of the Year’ gold trophy at the 10th Dorset Tourism Awards. Staff and trustees from the museum joined a host of prestigious businesses and charitable organisations recently for an awarda ceremony at the Tank Museum in Bovington. Successful businesses in the Dorset Awards will now be fast tracked into the South West Tourism Excellence Awards in March.

Staff at the newly refurbished museum applied to enter the Dorset Tourism Awards last spring to get an objective report and business feedback, and to benchmark the museum against other organisations in the sector. On 25 October, Quality in Tourism, an independent accreditation service and headline sponsor of the 2022 – 23 Dorset Tourism Awards, sent one of its assessors in the guise of a ‘mystery shopper’ to visit the museum and see what makes it tick. That day, there were 90 children enjoying fun-packed Little Explorer activities, as well as regular visitors exploring the museum and relaxing in the Garden Tea Room.

Museum director Chezzie Hollow said: “Here at the Museum of East Dorset, there really is something for everyone to enjoy. The Gold award proves that we are not just a fantastic local museum; we are an award-winning museum with a great future.”

Sara Marshall, chairman of the Priest’s House Museum Trust which runs the museum, said: “We were delighted to receive the ‘Small Visitor Attraction of the Year’ award despite strong competition from Dorset Heavy Horse Farm and Nothe Fort.”