Swindon Hotel Named Country Hotel of the Year by the Good Hotel Guide

The Pear Tree at Purton, just outside Swindon, has been named as the UK’s best Country Hotel in the latest edition of the Good Hotel Guide.

The 17 bedroom hotel was awarded the Cesar after a number of nominations from past guests.

The Good Hotel Guide is the only independent hotel guide in the UK and inclusion in the guide, and any awards, is purely on guests reviews – much like a paper version of TripAdvisor. Hotels cannot pay for entry.

Managing Director of the Pear Tree Anne Young, said: “When we first got the letter from the guide we were over the moon, it was such a surprise. For it to come purely from satisfied guests make it so much more special.”

The award will be handed out, along with the other 9 Cesar awards dished out by the guide each year, at the official launch on Monday 6^th October 2014 in London. Anne will be joined by her daughter Alix who is the Hotel Manager and Alix’s husband Tim who runs the reception team. Also attending will be Anne’s father Charles, aged 94 and known as Bamff to the team at the hotel, who has been involved in the hotel from the start and continues to do a lot of the finance work.

Alix Young, said: “We really do pride ourselves on giving brilliant service and I’m so proud of the whole team here for their hard work. We’ve got such a great team here, some who’ve only been here a few months, others who’ve been here almost since day one.

“The fact that this award has come from our guests is so great. We have a really loyal group of regular guests who have almost become part of the family and we’re so pleased to be welcoming more and more new guests.

“So many of our customers come from the local area, a large majority of the restaurant guests and even about a third of the hotel guests have SN postcodes. If we didn’t have the support of the local area, both in Purton and Swindon, we wouldn’t still be here!”

The hotel was started by Anne and her husband Francis in December 1987. Francis retired in 2013 after a period of ill health. They converted Purton’s derelict vicarage into a restaurant and 4 bedroom hotel and extended in the 1990s to add a further 13 bedrooms and a function room. Alix, who grew up at the hotel, trained and worked as a radio journalist before returning back to the hotel at the start of 2013.

The Pear Tree’s position in seven and a half acres of countryside has helped to win this award. Anne said: “When we bought the land, the garden was just two fields. We quickly turned the first field into a large lawn with herbaceous borders and then a few years later started work on the second field, this has become home to 600 vines, some beehives and a wildflower meadow. It’s a lot of hard work but it makes such a difference to the guests that it’s definitely worth it.“

The 30-strong team at the hotel were told of the award on Friday 3rd October and enjoyed a toast with the home-grown Cuvee Anne sparkling wine and a batch of personalised Pear Tree cupcakes made by local baker Samantha Whittingham of Little Miss Cupcakes. They will have a staff party later this year.