Tebay Services has been named as one of the best motorway services in the country.
Consumer magazine Which? ranked Tebay, on the M6, and Gloucester Services, on the M5, as the best services in a survey.
The services are owned and operated by Westmorland Family. They offer a unique model and are very different from standard motorway service areas.
The family-owned business is devoted to local sourcing and has no fast-food chains or franchises at its services. Instead its service stations have Farmshops selling locally produced food and drink and Kitchens serving freshly cooked dishes made from scratch using real ingredients, including local produce.
Which? reveals its best and worst service stations as UK holidaymakers prepare to hit the road this summer. Which? surveyed more than 2,700 members covering around 5,600 experiences at almost 70 motorway service stations across the UK. Members rated them on various criteria, including range of facilities, prices, cleanliness and service.
Tebay Services was praised for the freshly prepared food on offer in the Kitchen and for sale in the Farmshop. One reader said it was the best service station they had ever visited, and that they make a point of stopping there whenever they passed on the M6. Another praised the fair pricing, its car park layout and helpful signage on food counters – and one person went so far as to call it a ‘quaint haven’.
Gloucester Services on the M5 received the top score, with plaudits for its cleanliness, the range and quality of its shops and food outlets and its choice of facilities. One Which? reader said, ‘Everything was calm with a beautiful, landscaped environment, real food and local suppliers’, and another said ‘Gloucester Services are just how motorway services should be.’
The Westmorland Family’s service stations have remained true to the principles on which its founders, Cumbrian farmers John and Barbara Dunning, opened Tebay Services in 1972 after the M6 was built across their land. They welcomed drivers with freshly cooked meals and sought to share prosperity with their neighbours by sourcing locally as much as possible. Today Tebay Services supports more than 70 producers within a 30-mile radius.
Tebay is the focus of Channel 4 documentary A Lake District Farmshop. Two series and a Christmas special have been filmed at the services, focusing on the workers and the suppliers who make it special.
Westmorland Family chair Sarah Dunning said: “We’re so very proud of our colleagues and suppliers who have helped our services achieve and maintain these remarkable rankings.
“We’re a business based in quality food, but it’s the people who make and service this great produce that set us apart and we’re immensely proud of our teams.”
