St Tudy Community Shop and Post office and Padstow Farm Shop are among the finalists in the 2015 Countryside Alliance Awards (aka the Rural Oscars) which will be announced at the House of Lords in the Spring.

The Awards are the Countryside Alliance’s annual celebration of rural produce, skills, enterprise and heritage through our small hard-working businesses. They are now in their eleventh year and have become the definitive rural business award to win. The Awards are public-nomination led across four categories: Local Food in which Padstow Farm Shop is nominated; Village Shop/ Post Office – in which St Tudy is nominated; Butcher and Tourism Enterprise. Thousands of nominations were received and the judges have selected 10 finalists in each category.

Padstow Farm Shop: Fantastic produce, loads of choice, homemade goods that are second to none and extremely friendly service are what make this venture stand out for its customers. “They make you feel like close friends and family members”, wrote one nominator, and their canny use of social media makes their Facebook page a very popular source of recipes and information about what’s going on in store and what’s in season. www.padstowfarmshop.co.uk/

St Tudy Community shop: When the village shop and Post office stood under threat of closure in 2011 a community working party was set up - and this shop is the result. Run entirely by volunteers the St Tudy Village shop has breathed new life into the community. Wadebridge Rd, Bodmin PL30 3ND

Phone:01208 851839

Countryside Alliance Awards director Jill Grieve commented: “The finalists are all exceptional. We have been overwhelmed by nominations this year, so for St Tudy Village Shop and Padstow Farm Shop to get this far is a huge achievement. The secret to the Rural Oscars’ popularity is that they honour the people involved in these businesses and not just their produce or services. They exist to sing the praises of those who work hard to keep our communities and rural economy ticking, but don’t seek the spotlight. The St Tudy village shop and Padstow Farm Shop staff are very good examples of all that’s best about local enterprises. We are delighted to offer this platform to enable people to say “thank you” to them for all they contribute.

“We look forward to seeing them at Parliament in April and wish them and all of these businesses well as judging gets underway, there are going to be some hard decisions ahead.”

Local Food finalists

• Gog Magog Hills Farm Shop in Cambridgeshire

• Ben's Restaurant at Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk

• The Kings Arms Inn at Wing in Rutland

• Farndon Fields Farm Shop in Leicestershire

• Blue Tin Produce in Oxfordshire

• Battlefield 1403 Farm Shop in Shropshire

• Bride Valley Farm Shop in Dorset

• Padstow Farm Shop in Cornwall

• Langthornes Buffalo Produce, North Yorkshire

• Lower Clopton Farm Shop, Warwickshire

Village Shop finalists

• Haughley Post Office, Suffolk

• The Heath Stores, Kent

• Sherborne Village Shop, Gloucestershire

• Motcombe Community Shop, Dorset

• Barkers of Huby, North Yorkshire

• Kings Walden Post Office Store, Hitchin

• St Tudy Community Shop and Post Office, Cornwall

• Woods of Whitchurch, Herefordshire

• Bardon Mill Village Store, Northumberland

• Churchinford and District Community Shop, Devon

• Beech Hill Village Shop, Berkshire

• Barford Village Community Shop, Warwickshire