A Cumbrian cottage lettings company is celebrating a double success at the Social Travel Britain Awards 2016.

Keswick-based Sally’s Cottages was awarded gold for the second year running for ‘overall use of social media’ while founder Sally Fielding was crowned ‘social media personality of the year’.

The awards, presented in Bristol this week, recognise the best digital innovations and social media campaigns in UK tourism.

Sally's Cottages has an audience of 176,000 loyal fans on its Facebook page, twice the number of followers of the biggest agency in Britain, Cottages.com, which has 15,000 cottages compared with 360 at Sally’s.

The Cumbrian operator also had 10 times the amount of interaction with people commenting and liking posts.

The winners were chosen by Kash Bhattacharya, travel blogger at BudgetTraveller.org and author and creator of the Luxury Hostels in Europe guide, George Clode, editor of Travel GBI, and Travel Perspective co-founders and travel journalists Steve Keenan and Mark Frary. 

The winners each receive an engraved pebble, representing the spirit of the great British holiday.

Mrs Fielding said: “Social media has pushed Sally’s Cottages forwards and it is our most important marketing tool for increasing our brand exposure, promoting our cottages, showcasing Cumbria and talking with customers.

“Our visitors are increasingly turning to social media as a point of contact and we use the platforms as a holiday research tool too.

“These awards are real accolades for our business and it rewards the huge amount of time and resource we invest in our social media marketing.”

Mrs Fielding, 40, founded the business in 2003 with just one holiday cottage in Eskdale and an initial investment of £1,000. 

Today, it has an office with 13 staff, more 80 self-employed cleaners, a team of plumbers, handymen and electricians, and had gross takings of £4.9m between April 2015 and March 2016.