A hotel has won a business award for its investment in helping the environment.

Swinton Park, near Masham, took its first step towards reducing energy consumption and cutting emissions last year when it spent £180,000 on installing a wood chip boiler that burns redundant timber from the surrounding estate.

Now its owners have invested a further £80,000 in an environmentally-friendly laundry that has created jobs for a supervisor and two assistants.

In recognition of its green efforts, the partnership of the hotel and the family-owned estate has been named the best business initiative, at the first Yorkshire and Humberside microgeneration awards.

They were held by the regional assembly and the Energy Saving Trust to showcase the best small renewable energy projects.

The award means that the partnership has won £1,000 worth of residential courses at the Centre for Alternative Energy in Wales, where further advances in green technology will be studied.