A Barnsley attraction is celebrating after being awarded the Visitor Attraction Quality Assurance Service accreditation – recognising the reinvestment and constant improvements at the family-run farm park.

Visit England – the national tourism body – said Cannon Hall Farm in Cawthorne “continues to be a superb example of its type and an exemplar of high quality and standards across the visitor journey.

“It was noted at the last assessment that the attraction sets a standard of excellence for farm parks nationwide. This remains the case. Once again almost all the areas scored are to excellent quality standards and just as last time in the majority of cases the only improvements that can be identified are ones of fine tuning, discussion points, or are a matter of aiming for marginal gains above the present very high standard.”

The full report went on to praise the farm’s Christmas event, its social media presence and its continued reinvestment in improvements – such as the recent £1.8million investment into new play facilities across the site.

Quality of food and strong staff performance were also singled out in the report.

Farm Director Rob Nicholson said: “We are really pleased with this report and it is a true testament to the hard work of all our staff who really make it a priority to make sure our customers make some fantastic family memories on a day out with us.

“We’ve always operated on the idea of constant reinvestment – and that’s what we’ve done from day one, when we were just a small farmyard with a tiny shop.”