Oxton and Kelso businesses in running for national awards

One of the lodges on offer at Airhouses.

Now in their fourth year, the Amazon-sponsored Rural Business Awards are the only national accolades specifically for companies based in the countryside.

The two Borders businesses shortlisted – Kelso fishing accessory maker FinHunter UK and Oxton’s Airhouses self-catering lodges – will now go through to a regional final in October, then, potentially, a national final in February 2019.

FinHunter UK, shortlisted for the title of best rural manufacturing business, makes fishing accessories – including wallets, key-rings, reel cases and bags – out of old waders that would otherwise be sent to landfill sites.

Airhouses, vying to be named best rural tourism business, is a complex made up of four five-star self-catering lodges, plus a holiday home able to sleep 10, on a 633-acre organic beef farm.

The awards were founded by Leicestershire businesswomen Jemma Clifford and Anna Price in 2015 and now attract hundreds of entries annually.