Smiles radiated out from the Land of the Rising Sun upon a certain Welsh border farm B&B business near Pembridge, which has just scooped a major award.
A long-standing working friendship with the University of Toyo in Japan has helped the Lowe Farm win a Servicemark Gold award.
A visiting group of Japanese students led by Professor Shinji Aoki were there recently to see owner Juliet Williams receive her award from Elizabeth Halls, from Business Link West Midlands.
The Japanese flag fluttered from the granary steps at Lowe Farm as Juliet picked up the latest in a string of accolades and her visitors gave a performance of traditional Japanese dancing in the garden.
Since the professor first visited the farmhouse enterprise five years ago as part of his researches into British rural tourism, he has returned 19 times bringing with him more than 300 Japanese students to stay at the farm.
In return, Juliet has visited Japan to address a 900-strong national tourism conference on the subject of running B&Bs – something that is still a novelty in the country.
Among those who watched the presentation at Lowe Farm was Horio Satomi, who runs a traditional Japanese hotel with her husband. During Juliet’s visit to Japan, she spent some time with the couple.
A delighted Juliet said: “We have not one, not two but three! We are thrilled, especially as it means doing so much work to get this award.”
This year the Japanese visitors are exploring Green Tourism, a particularly strong theme in Herefordshire.
More than 60 B&Bs in the county, including Lowe Farm, have won awards from Herefordshire Wildlife Trust for making their businesses more environmentally friendly.
Down on the farm, they have seen at first hand how Juliet has reduced the B&Bs carbon footprint, including sampling her own home-grown produce from the vegetable garden.
Said Professor Shinji: “We’ve visited more than 50 farmhouse B&Bs and in our experience this one is always best, especially her hospitality, and she’s always caring for us by providing Japanese food.”
Juliet replied in Japanese by saying: “Arigatou! – thank you.”