The Judge’s Lodging in Presteigne has had a special start to its season this year.

While staff were busy lighting their period lights and opening the doors to welcome the first visitors of 2016, curator Gaby Rivers was in London accepting an award.

The museum has won one of the prestigious 2016 Hudson’s Heritage Awards. The Judge’s Lodging picked up the Highly Commended second place in the category of Best New Discovery, behind winner Bletchley Park Trust. The Hudson’s Heritage Awards have several categories and The Judge’s Lodging has twice before been honoured in them, being heralded as the Britain’s Best Hidden Gem there in 2014.

This category of Best New Discovery refers to ‘Something newly found, uncovered, researched or restored’ and was given for The Judge’s Lodging’s project working with young student conservator Gemma McBader last year on an Ethiopian Emperor’s shield.

The shield lay forgotten in the local history collection until Gemma chose it to work on for her master’s degree at Cardiff University. Her work helped to identify that not only is it unique in design in shields held throughout large & UK collections, but turned out to have been a gift to Lord Rennell Rodd of Presteigne from the Emperor Menelik II on the signing of the Anglo-Ethiopian Treaty of 1897.

Norman Hudson, the founder of Hudson’s Historic House Guide, the UK’s leading publication on historic properties open to the public, said the project showed that it must not be forgotten what amazing treasures can be found within collections in small museums throughout the country. The Judge’s Lodging was by far the smallest historic property honoured at the awards, but this time, there was good reason to be truly amazed by their accolade.

Established in 2011, the awards are an independently judged, annual, national scheme open to historic houses, gardens, museums and heritage sites and celebrate the very best visitor experiences.

Dan Cruickshank presented the awards at Goldsmiths Hall in London with invited guests including owners and managers of the winning entries, representatives of the heritage tourist industry and the media.

The lunch was hosted by an independent judging panel of heritage experts including chairman Norman Hudson OBE, heritage consultant; Lucinda Lambton, writer and broadcaster; Jeremy Musson, architectural writer; Simon Foster, consultant to Channel 4’s Country House Rescue and Ken Robinson, CBE, tourism business consultant.