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A Haverhill woman whose business won a national competition while she was on holiday in the Caribbean, received her award last week.

Finishing Touch Interiors, which is based within Premier Kitchens in Homefield Road, was the nation’s most-loved interior designer in thebestof’s 14 Days of Love competition in the run-up to Valentine’s Day.

But owner Sarah Gibbs was on holiday in the Dominacan Republic with her partner when the competition was on.

Undeterred she got online and urged her clients to support her via social networking, with the result that she won, narrowly pipping an interior designers in Lichfield.

Sarah and her partner Neil Cogger had booked their two-week break last August and were looking forward to spending some time away from it all and celebrating Valentine’s Day in the Dominican Republic.

“When we booked the holiday it didn’t occur to me that I would be away for part of the 14 Days of Love campaign," she said.

"The realisation that I would be on holiday did make me wonder how I was going to get my clients to leave reviews if I wasn’t around.”

Undeterred Sarah came up with a plan to contact her clients by email and asked them to go online and leave her a review on the bestof Haverhill website if they were happy with her services.

Sarah also used social media, particularly Facebook, to remind her clients that she was taking part in the campaign. Her organisational skills and effort paid off and, despite being over 4,000 miles away, won the award.

Elaine Carr, owner of the bestof Haverhill said: “I knew Sarah really wanted to win her category and had put in a lot of work before she jetted off on holiday.

"I was delighted to find out that she had won; it was a closely fought competition between Finishing Touch Interiors and an interior design company in Lichfield. I couldn’t wait to tell Sarah the good news so I sent her a text message. She was thrilled.”

Finishing Touch Interiors are loved by their clients for their 'attention to detail, sound advice and great design ideas'.