MUSEUM staff are celebrating a major accolade after being voted as the UK’s best heritage project.

Celebrity chef Ainsley Harriott presented the National Lottery Award trophy today to staff at the Lion Salt Works Museum.

The public played a major role in the award for the museum, which received almost 6,000 votes Pictured are LSW’s volunteers, trustees and staff.

Museum staff, volunteers and trustees were also thanked for their contribution towards the success of the museum, which opened last year following a four-year restoration.

The museum has won a £3,000 cash prize and a trophy, and will attend a star-studded awards ceremony, The National Lottery Stars, to be broadcast on BBC One on September 12.

The Lion Salt Works Museum opened after a 30-year campaign to save the UK’s last open pan salt-making site in Cheshire.

A four-year restoration turned a dilapidated structure into a museum, preserving a key part of the country’s industrial history through interesting and fun displays, which include a light and sound show.

The museum received £5.2 million of National Lottery funding through the Heritage Lottery Fund.

It competed against six projects to be crowned Heritage Award winner, and was the only contender in the north west.