Dartmouth's tourist information team is the tops.

The town's information centre is already celebrating one of its most successful years to date.

And now it has walked away with a top tourism excellence award.

In a glitzy awards ceremony at Torquay's Grand Hotel, the town's tourism team received the silver award from radio and TV presenter Judi Spiers in the Visit Devon Tourism Awards.

The centre staff, who fielded 114,535 visitors, 4,082 telephone calls and answered 2,356 emails in the past year, were cited as being 'charming, professional and knowledgeable' received a handmade engraved glass trophy.

They were pipped to the top gold award by the English Riviera Visitor Information Service.

The Dartmouth centre, which also found time to dispense 22,600 attraction leaflets and book 84 people a week on summer tours of the Britannia Royal Naval College, sold 2,000 tickets and programmes on behalf of Dartmouth festivals, attractions and events, plus booked 149 bed nights.

Cllr Hilary Bastone, w ho represents Dartmouth on South Hams Council and is a champion of the centre's work, said: 'This is a fantastic achievement from the small team of well led volunteers who fully deserve this accolade.

The centre's joint manager Sue Stone said: 'We are extremely proud and pleased. It is great news. We are particularly proud because we are self-funded.'

The centre is run from its base in Mayor's Avenue, which also houses Thomas Newcomen's atmospheric engine, the invention that kick-started the Industrial Revolution. It is staffed by full-time manager Lesley Turner and part-time manager Sue Stone, with one part-time member of staff and eight dedicated volunteers.

In the last year they have also launched a brand new website http://www.discoverdart">www.discoverdart mouth.com, at a cost of £22,000.

They have received 55,000 visits during July and August this year compared to 50,000 during the same period in 2012.

In addition, the requests for Discover Dartmouth guide increased by 50 per cent compared to last year.