last month, a Paget cottage colony has been chosen as a "Hideaway Resort of the Year'' by a top US travel journal.

Andrew Harper's Hideaway Report, which bills itself as the "connoisseur's guide to peaceful and unspoiled places'', selected Bermuda's Horizons & Cottages as one of five resorts of the year in the Caribbean/Bermuda/Mexico region.

Other resorts were selected in the United States, Europe and South Pacific/Asia.

The selections were published in the report's December issue.

The award, which is given only to resorts that are "relatively intimate in size and...located in genuinely peaceful and aesthetically pleasing surroundings'', could be a boon to both Horizons and the Island.

According to Mr. Harper, the report's editor and publisher, "key US travel editors will soon be informed of (the) award, as well as our 18,000 top-level executive subscribers who will be receiving their issue in a few days''.

He also informed Horizons that it is entitled to receive up to 1,000 complimentary copies of the issue for room or lobby display and promotional purposes.

Mr. Wilhelm Sack, Horizons' general manager, added: "This is perhaps the biggest award on a worldwide basis received by any hotel in Bermuda. It is still possible...'' Hideaway Report, which is based in Sun Valley, Idaho, awarded the honours on the basis of such criteria as food, hotel grounds, staff friendliness and efficiency, the overall upkeep of lodgings and public lounges and a certain "Q factor'' or "intangible summary impression that instinctively separates the good from the truly enchanting''.

"Some of our award winners are grander than others,'' Mr. Harper wrote in the December issue, "but each exudes an inviting sense of warmth and charm conducive to a relaxing stay.''