The Pear Tree at Purton | Cotswolds Hotel

The oldest part of the building is the fireplace in the library; this has been dated to 1430 when Henry VI was on the throne of England, around the time of Joan of Arc. The building was originally Purton Vicarage; the odd thing was that it did not stand on its present site until 1912.

It was moved, so the story goes, because the church had run out of grave space, and the graves had gradually encroached on the house until they were right outside the front door. So in 1912 each of the stones was meticulously numbered and carried by horse and cart to its new site, chosen because in its new position the front doorstep would be exactly the same height above sea level as the top of St Paul's Cathedral in London.

The only vicar to live in both vicarages was Canon John Veysey whose picture is at the bottom of the old staircase, standing outside his new vicarage. The Pear Tree's main conference / function suite is named after him: the John Veysey Suite. Subsequent vicars living at the vicarage included Canon Willis who was vicar of Purton from 1927 to 1974. He used to be seen walking down to the church in a huge black cloak. The last vicar to live in the house was Canon Roy Blake who moved in 1986 to a smaller house nearer the main part of the village.

In July 1987 the church sold the house to Francis and Anne Young. The Youngs brought many years of experience in the hotel industry to their first venture on their own. Francis, after taking an HND in Catering and Hotel Administration, worked at The Grosvenor Hotel in Chester where he met Anne who was Head Housekeeper. Anne went on to The Savoy in London and then became Head Housekeeper to King Hussein of Jordan at the Royal Palace in Amman. Francis also went to Jordan to His Majesty's Summer Palace as Manager. From there Francis went to Sandy Lane in Barbados. He then joined the Marriott Corporation and opened both the London and Boston Marriott as Food and Beverage Director.

The house was not in the best condition as squatters had been living in it while it had been vacant. After some planning and historical difficulties - the Diocese insisted that no alcohol be served in the building and that all profits should go to the Church of England - the Youngs eventually got planning permission in October 1987 to turn the building into a restaurant with four letting rooms. The Youngs and their family lived in the converted attic, where Canon Willis had kept a huge train set.

While Francis was still working at his job as Operations Director for a group of hotels based in Slough, Anne, with the help of their then partner / chef Janet Pichel Juan, supervised the conversion of the building including new electrics, plumbing, heating, the construction of the conservatory, drives, etc, to open after seven and a half weeks as The Pear Tree at Purton. The name of the village - Purton - comes from the Anglo-Saxon word meaning 'pear tree enclosure'.

The restaurant opened on 11th December 1987, with the four rooms opening over the following few months. In 1989 The Pear Tree, despite its small size, was given a 71% rating by the Egon Ronay Guide making it the highest rated hotel in the Swindon area.

In 1990 / 91 the hotel was extended to 17 rooms, with a conference room able to accommodate boardroom-style meetings for up to 30 delegates and weddings for up to 50.

Since 1987 Anne has completely redesigned the gardens of the hotel, turning them from a small herbaceous border and a couple of overgrown fields into what you can see today.

Each of the hotel rooms, bar one, is named after a character associated with the village of Purton:

Anne Hyde, the wife of James II, was brought up at College Farm in Purton. EH Budd the cricketer was the first man to score a century at Lord's cricket ground - he also played for Purton. James Kibblewhite was a notable runner in his day. Nevil Maskelyne the fifth Astronomer Royal, who is buried in Purton church, is generally recognised as having refined the system of navigation by the stars to its current level. Edmund Kempster kept the village general store for many years. Alice Wykeham Martin is featured in the Guinness Book of Records for being the oldest person to write a book at 103! The exception is Maria Williams who was Anne's great-grandmother and kept a hotel in Bloomsbury in the last century. The lady in the picture at the top of the bar is Agnes Goddard - Francis' great-grandmother.