The restaurant at Fairways Garden Centre in Ashbourne has won an award in the 2013 Derbyshire Food and Drink Awards.
The Garden Room Cafe won in the Best Healthy Eating Venue category of the awards, which were presented on Monday evening at Chatsworth House.

Family-run Fairways was established in 1998, and expanded its operations in 2008 with the acquisition of Macclesfield Garden Centre, which now also trades under the Fairways name. A restaurant was installed there two years later, and last February Ashbourne's Garden Room Cafe was extended to accommodate 120 diners.

Fare on offer in the self-service cafe includes everything from breakfasts and traditional Sunday roasts to jacket potatoes, sandwiches and paninis.

Restaurant manager Ruth Sampson told diyweek.net: "Everything's home-made, from the soup to the pie of the day, and all the cakes are home-made so we know what goes into everything. The vegetables are all steamed and served fresh and there's a salad bar as well. And we also do a lot of gluten-free and dairy-free."

She said business was "Very good. I was in the pub trade for 10 years and this is so much busier. People come out in the daytime instead of the evening these days."

The county council-run Derbyshire Food and Drink Awards presented 12 accolades in total. Speaking at the awards ceremony, Councillor Kevin Parkinson said: "The food and drink sector plays an important role in the Derbyshire economy, and our awards give much-deserved recognition to some very talented people."