The owners of The Larder Oakham are celebrating this week after the café has been named among the top 10 percent of restaurants and cafes worldwide in the Tripadvisor 2020 Travellers' Choice Awards.

Alyson Kyle and Iain Stares - who stepped up to support the community at the peak of the coronavirus pandemic lockdown - are 'surprised and delighted' to receive the award which recognises businesses which consistently earn top customer feedback.

With over 8.7 million businesses listed on Tripadvisor, it is testament to the service and quality that winners consistently provide to their customers.

"It was a bit of a surprise, to be honest, as we only realised when we spotted the logo when we went on our Tripadvisor page," explains Alyson.

"I vaguely remembered receiving an email a few weeks' earlier, but I never opened it as we get quite a few from Tripadvisor.

"When I went back to check, there it was in black and white telling us that we had received the Travellers' Choice Award.

"We are delighted, it's very nice to get this kind of recognition."

Business at The Larder Oakham is now back in full swing, although social distancing restrictions mean the cafe only has half the number of seats it did pre-lockdown.

"It's not easy and we take each week as it comes, but we are weathering the storm and focusing heavily on takeaway food at the moment which has been helped by the good weather.

"We will be getting our heads together to come up with something innovative ideas for winter.

"We have to always be looking ahead at the moment," added Alyson.

Alyson and Iain cooked and distributed more than 3,000 free oven-ready and frozen meals to the elderly, those self-isolating and key workers for 10 weeks during the coronavirus crisis lockdown.

Despite being prepared to foot the bill for the food and deliveries themselves, the Rutland community got behind the pair when they launched a JustGiving fundraising page.

Thanks to the generosity of the Rutland community more than £4,300 was donated by people keen to support the business' response to the coronavirus outbreak.