The winner of The Northern Echo's Best Beauty Salon has been announced – with Darlington's Upper Class Aesthetics taking the crown.

The salon, currently based in Houndgate, Darlington, is run by Hannah Hammond.

She is currently in the process of moving to new premises, where four other beauty and hair staff will work alongside her.

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Describing her new salon as the “stuff of dreams – crazy!” Hannah said she loves what she does.

Providing all aspects of beauty, from aesthetics, lashes, nails, facials, semi-permanent make-up, hair extensions and waxing, Upper Class Aesthetics is the top choice of our readers in Darlington and County Durham.

She said: “I love what I do. I love the clients, and the relationship I have with them. They can get everything done when they are with us, so we all know each other’s clients. The five of us working here are very much like a family.

“We’re really excited to move into our new salon. We’re going from one which is pink with lots of marble to black and gold décor. It’s a big change but change is good.”

Hannah has achieved this success despite dealing with the worst pain imaginable of losing her little boy in 2017.

She said: “I don’t know how we’ve done it. When Mark died, I knew we would never be the same again, but it sparked something in me I didn’t know was there, and I can’t stop.”

Eight-year-old Mark Hammond was diagnosed with a rare type of cancerous brain tumour – medulloblastoma – in 2015.

Following gruelling and intensive treatment, the Darlington youngster was told he was in remission in February 2016.

However, a brain scan in December 2016 found that Mark’s cancer had returned, with three tumours discovered on his brain and several on his spine, which have left him unable to walk.

Tragically, in August 2017, Mark passed away.

Hannah said: “We had so much support when Mark wasn’t very well. Then, the day after he died it was as though all the help stopped and everyone went back to living their own lives.

“It got to the point where we had about £400 between us coming in and we were getting food parcels from a church food bank. We were bankrupt. My Grandma, who has always been a massive support in my life, was the one who helped us back on our feet.

"I had trained in beauty from leaving school, but I started researching what to go into next and I realised how big Botox was getting.

"At first, my grandma wouldn’t lend me the money to take the course as it was expensive and she’d need to use her credit card – but one day she said fine – as long as you pay me back!

“I haven’t looked back. I worked for a year to pay her back everything from the course, and all the stock I needed to buy for the Botox, fat dissolver and fillers.

“I was doing it from home at first, and then rented chairs in salons to finally get my own salon with other girls renting chairs – and now we can’t wait to move into our new premises in November."

Hannah now has a little girl, Eden, five, who is very aware of her special big brother.

Hannah said: “We still talk about Mark every day, and I talk about him with my clients. I seem to have quite a few clients who have lost a child so we do speak about them. It’s like therapy really.

“Eden knows all about Mark, but she does ask if she can have another brother because she says, “mine died.” At school this year her class made Valentines cards for someone they loved. She wrote hers to Mark.

“She stole a picture from our front room to put in her bedroom so we’ve let her keep it there. It is lovely that she has a special bond with him, even though she never met him.

"It feels amazing to have won this competition. It is something that I never imagined I would get to – I just expected to have one customer a week. But the day Mark died I changed forever – I was never ambitious like I am now, I was so different then.

“I’ve learned that nothing in life is promised. We have to just go for what we want and if it doesn’t work out, get up and start again.”