The search is on to find County Durham’s Tourism Superstar of 2024.
Voting has now opened to find the person who shows the greatest passion for the county and a real dedication to giving visitors a priceless experience.
Judges have drawn up a shortlist of superstars from which members of the public can choose the county’s winner who will go on to represent Durham in a national competition.
The nominees include an artisan cheesemaker, a ghost whisperer, a digger enthusiast, a head gardener and a candidate who organises 1,000 volunteers into the area’s largest live show.
The Durham winner will go forward to a national competition in which the county has a remarkable record of success – its champion has been crowned VisitEngland’s national Tourism Superstar in three of the last seven years in which the crown has been fought for.
Voting will close at midday on Friday, July 12, and the winner will be announced on July 16.
So who is going to carry the county’s flag this year? These are the nominations for the five shortlisted candidates with the voting buttons beneath:
County Durham Tourism Awards 2024 Nominees
Jonathan Raper, Teesdale Cheese
Jonathan is the co-owner of Teesdale Cheesemakers and Cheesedale, which hosts an award-winning cheesemaking facility, cafe and glamping site. Jonathan's roles and responsibilities, being the owner of a small business, are vast. He is often found in the cafe regaling visitors with stories and handing out local knowledge, but behind the scenes he could be fixing fences, mucking out the pigs, discussing the finances and strategic direction of the business or checking in guests to ensure they have everything they need for their stay.
Jonathan was born in Bishop Auckland and has a passion for learning. As a result, he has a breadth of knowledge that means he can talk and relate to everyone who visits the café, shop and glamping pods. He is interested in people so despite a huge list of tasks on his itinerary, he always has time for a story, a chat or a joke.
He's warm, friendly, and funny, has a huge knowledge of the area, a passion for the county and the people in it. With his family background in both farming and mining, he typifies the warmth and down to earth sense of humour of the people of County Durham.
Jonathan is an ambassador for many local businesses and attractions and a credit to County Durham.
Andrew Ross – Tour Guide & Ghost Whisperer, Walking with the Ghosts of Durham
Andrew works on the streets of Durham as an independent tour guide. He takes visitors on guided tours around the city of Durham, with a passion for Durham and a dedication to sharing the county’s rich heritage.
The “Ghost Whisperer of Durham”, Andrew has been bringing his unique ghost walks to County Durham’s night time economy for about two years, and has already attracted rave reviews from those who join him.
Born out of his own knowledge and experience of the area, Andrew’s ghost walks bring to life the often grizzly history of the area as well as a number of its famous - and infamous – legends. Far from sticking to the city centre, Andrew’s tours take in the entirety of the county – celebrating and ensuring the history of an often misunderstood part of the country is heard.
Andrew is fully independent, very much a one man band. He has built his business up from the ground. Visitors to the county, as well as locals, are impressed by Andrew's knowledge of the area as well as his ability to bring the stories to life with his personality and passion.
Selflessly promoting other local independent businesses where he can – including across social media and on his ghost walks – Andrew is a fiercely proud advocate of all things Durham. He goes above and beyond the call of duty to ensure anyone can join him on his ghost walks, tailoring the route and tours to those who may need additional accessibility needs, making sure that no one is excluded and that all visitors to Durham get a visit to remember.
James Kidwell – Park Marshal, Diggerland
James has a huge enthusiasm for theme parks and since joining Diggerland his eagerness and commitment to the business has grown.
In his own time, James runs a YouTube channel dedicated to all things theme park. Since January 2024, this channel and subsequent social media platforms have undergone a rebrand and James now dedicates these platforms to posting his own content, all about Diggerland Durham. Since the rebrand, James has amassed more than 11,000 views and more than 1,000 followers. He now sees TikTok users regularly inquiring in his comments about the park and other attractions in the area, this has resulted in people booking tickets. He can often be seen out and about at other theme parks wearing his Diggerland jacket with pride.
One of James’ strongest skills is connecting with people. He is brilliant at doing small things that make a customer's day, such as remembering their name, and building up a fantastic rapport with customers who come on his ride repeatedly. James shows remarkable patience with customers of all ages. He goes above and beyond to ensure that everyone that comes on his ride has an amazing, interactive experience.
On top of this, James has an incredible attitude towards learning and improvement. Across the last few years, we have seen James’ performance improve alongside his eagerness to further his skills. He is starting to take on more responsibility at work and is thriving.
Outside of the workplace, James is always ready to promote Diggerland to anyone he meets. No matter where you find him, he can be seen striking up a conversation with a member of the public about where he works and how much he loves it.
Wendy Wilshere – Head of Casting and Engagement, 11 Arches
Wendy’s role as head of volunteer casting and engagement is absolutely integral to the success of Kynren – without Wendy to organise, look after and share key communications with the volunteers, they simply wouldn’t be able to perform this show, which in turn is vital to bring tourism and visitors to the area.
She has been a volunteer with Kynren since the show's first year in 2016 and her experience as a volunteer itself is essential – it means she knows what volunteers need to make their journey as rewarding and meaningful as possible. She is also part of the dance team, and still performs on show nights, and was also volunteer team leader for a number of years – so there isn’t much Wendy doesn’t know about being part of Kynren.
She made the move to become an employed team member this year. Her role consists of multiple different responsibilities – organising the 1,000 volunteers alone is no easy task – but she does everything with a beaming smile on her face and puts the show and the team first in every decision.
She is a highly respected and well thought of member of the team and all the volunteers feel incredibly lucky she is there to look after them. Her passion for Kynren is infectious, and it’s clear to see Wendy’s pride and the passion for not just the show, but the local area too, alongside her drive to make it a better place for generations to come.
Stephen Houghton – Head Gardener, South Causey Inn
Stephen, a self-taught gardener who has been developing his skills over the last four years, excels in his role as Head Gardener. He is passionate about his role and has won awards from the likes of Northumbria In Bloom.
His passion is making the hotel look beautiful for visitors. He can always be found chatting with customers about what he is planting and what projects he is working on, giving insight on how the plants have been grown from seed on the premises in his polytunnel. Stephen looks after the animals at Pets Corner and always is eager to help the customers interact with the animals, taking them out of their enclosures to be closer with children, who enjoy the interactions.
Regular visitors can be found enjoying a cup of tea while talking with Stephen, sharing tips and thoughts. One of Stephen's newest ideas for the hotel is Poetry Corner, where a selection of poems sent in by visitors has been displayed. From this area, visitors can relax surrounded by nature and perfectly placed bird feeders to enjoy wildlife watching. With Stephen's thoughtful and passionate approach to the gardens, visitors are frequently commenting about how well kept the grounds are while at the same time they maintain the habitats needed by our local wildlife.
He provides the hotel with freshly grown produce which has helped the chefs create weekly speciality dishes, with the remaining produce being donated to locals and visitors.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here