A VINEYARD near York has been awarded a gold medal at a prestigious wine awards ceremony.

The Yorkshire Heart Vineyard and Brewery, based at Nun Monkton, was one of only four gold medal winners at the International Wine Challenge Cellar Door of the Year awards.

The first vineyard at the 14-acre site was planted in 2006 and since then more than 30,000 bottles of award winning wine have been produced by the team.

Owners Chris and Gillian Spakouskas said: "We could not be more delighted to be recognised with the best vineyards in the country, we are so very proud of our team and what we have all achieved."

Visitor numbers to the vineyard have trebled in the past three years.

And there are plans for another three acres of land to be planted with a further 4,000 vines in 2019, focusing on varieties of red wine grapes. The company's English sparkling and rose wines have also been popular with visitors.