Built in Cumbrian stone and dark wood beams and selling quails' eggs and organic beer from a local brewery, this is not your average motorway service station.

Tebay services and farm shop in Westmorland became the first service station in Britain to be awarded five stars in a survey put together by the Highways Agency and VisitEngland.

Tebay, which opened for business 40 years ago, is on the Dunning family farm by the north bound M6 at the head of the Lune gorge.

Jars of locally sourced gooseberry jams nestle beside organic tomatoes and fresh leeks. Tebay has a butcher's counter selling Galloway Beef from nearby farms along with fresh coriander, thyme and basil, organic cheese and locally grown wines.

The restaurant serves homemade food and an outdoor grill shack has barbecued and locally sourced meat. It is open around the clock and employs 500 staff.

Tebay chief executive Sarah Dunning says the Highways Agency has strict guidelines regulating motorway service stations – they must not become destinations in their own rights. "But we are a stopping point for traffic travelling between England and Scotland," she said. "It is really cool being the only service station out of the 100 odd motorway services areas on the network to get five stars."

In the past year, a team of six independent assessors from VisitEngland has undertaken three mystery visits to all the 107 service stations on the motorway network.

They asked staff impromptu questions such as "Cottage pie – is that made from lamb or beef?" and noted the staff's response. During the two-hour visit, they had a ticklist of 260 questions incorporating cleanliness, car parking, lighting, security and safety, facilities for children, dogs and disabled people and for coaches, caravans and lorries. They also assess toilets, catering, food and the overall retail and forecourt experience.

The majority of service stations [70] achieved three-stars in the survey, 11 received two-stars and 25 four-stars.

The Highways Agency had approached VisitEngland to help them devise a quality standard scheme they could use it to improve the customer experience.

In 2006, Tebay was voted best motorway services in Britain by Which? Magazine and three years later it won the Grand Prix of gastronomy from Egon Ronay.

The Dunning family is in the process of planning another service station near Gloucester. "We are in the final throes of a judicial review and hopefully in the next month that will be resolved and we should be able to start building," Dunning said.