Three Dorset attractions have become finalists in categories in the Visit England Awards for Excellence 2020 including a west Dorset pub.

The Visit England Awards for Excellence champion the very best of the country's tourism industry, celebrating quality, innovation and best practice. All three of the Dorset attractions won their local tourism awards and were put forward to the national competition.

The Three Horseshoe Pub in Burton Bradstock has made it to the final of the Pub of the Year category. The owners are hoping to beat the other two finalists, pubs in Oxfordshire and Warwickshire, to take home the gold. Co-owner Hannah Schep, who owns the pub with her husband Jaap, is shocked to have made it to the final.

She said: "We are still trying to get our heads around it. When we won the South West competition we couldn't believe that and to know that we are in the final three of the national one we are just so excited. I think we have made it to the final because we are a couple with me in the front of house and my husband in the kitchen so we've got someone in both sides of the business. We are super picky about our staff and our suppliers and we want every customer that comes through the door to have an amazing experience.

"It would mean everything for us to win, especially after the last three months, and to have that amazing piece of good news would make it all worthwhile."

Durlston Country Park in Swanage has made it to the final in the Accessible and Inclusive Tourism Award and is battling it out against the Birmingham Hippodrome and the Mylor Sailing and Powerboat School in Cornwall for the title.

Ali Tuckey, project leader of the Durlston pleasure ground project, said: "I jumped out of my chair in excitement when I heard we were in the final. Durlston is such a fantastic place and we want as many people as possible to come and enjoy it as visitors and volunteers.

"It would be fantastic for us to win. I come from a family where some people have disabilities and I remember the battles we used to face to get out in the countryside so it would be amazing to shout about the fact that you can come to some of the most amazing countryside in the UK here in Dorset and it is accessible for everyone."

Shire Hall Historic Courthouse Museum is in the final of the Small Visitor Attraction of the Year category against Gladstone Pottery Museum in Staffordshire and Herschel Museum of Astronomy in Somerset. Helen Cowley, marketing officer for Shire Hall, said: "We are really excited to be in the final. It would be so great to win, especially at a time like this with the pandemic."

The winners will be announced in a virtual awards ceremony on August 17.