The team at Cumbria’s Hawkshead Relish have been shortlisted in the Countryside Alliance Awards.

Now in their 15th year, the awards are an annual celebration of British food and farming, enterprise and heritage.

Hawkshead Relish has been nominated in the Rural Enterprise category.

Hawkshead Relish has gone from strength to strength over the last 20 years. It now exports to 12 countries, sells in more than 500 specialist outlets across the UK and makes products for a number of leading food businesses and chefs.

Regional champions will be announced in May, and the national champions will be revealed finalists at a reception at the House of Lords in June.

Maria Whitehead, co-owner and director of Hawkshead Relish, said: "This recognition means a great deal to the team. As a rural business we are hugely proud of where we live and of what we do.

"Like so many rural businesses, we aren’t just about creating jobs, there is much more to it than that.

"We aim to provide very real opportunities for our local communities we help to keep them strong and together, we help in some small way to prevent rural isolation by being a very real part of where we live in all that we strive to undertake."