RESTAURANTS in Charmouth and Lyme Regis have scooped gold prizes in the prestigious Taste of the West awards. Owners of The White House in The Street, Charmouth, and The Victoria Hotel in Silver Street, Lyme Regis, were celebrating this week after hearing they had been picked by anonymous judges to be two of just three gold winners of the restaurant category in the county (the other was the Acorn Inn at Evershot). Ian Simpson of the White House said he was pleased to be picked for gold for the second time in consecutive years. He and his wife Liz have been at the White House just three seasons and have created a menu with fresh local produce at its core. Ian said: "We are committed to using produce reared and grown from the West Country, the vast majority of it from farms within the Charmouth/Marshwood Vale area such as Becklands Organic Farm at Whitchurch Canonicorum, Monkton Wyld Farm for lamb and Briggs Farm at Wooton Fitzpaine for our vegetables." Daroll Moss at the Victoria Hotel, said he and his wife Fiona were delighted with the news. In the eight years the couple have been at the Victoria they have established a reputation for good, modern English food with an international twist. The menu is big on fish, all of it from local suppliers Samways and Davies, and features meat and poultry from Lyme butcher Phil Pattemore and vegetables from Millers in Kilmington. The Taste of the West Food and Drink awards recognise the finest in food and drink produced in the South West and the establishments that provide excellence in hospitality, using regional food and drink on their menus.