A BRAND new hotel has opened in the quaint surroundings of Bishopstone.

Helen Browning’s Royal Oak, in Cues Lane, has recently undergone a makeover and yesterday representatives from Arkell’s Brewery and Sarah Rose Troughton, the Lord-Lieutenant of Wiltshire, declared the new 12-bedroom hotel officially open.

The new addition is the result of significant investment by pub owners Arkells and long-standing landlord Helen Browning, whose organic farm produce is a favourite among Wiltshire foodies.

George Arkell, the brewery’s managing director, said: “It’s been a long time in the planning but we are delighted to be backing Helen Browning and Tim Finney.

“They are long-standing tenants who have invested a huge amount of their own time and money building the trade over the last ten years or so.

“They have successfully created a destination pub in a really gorgeous part of Wiltshire, so it has been a joint effort between the brewery and Eastbrook Farm to give the village and surrounding area a pub we hope they’ll be proud of.”

Helen Browning’s Organic, located at Eastbrook Farm in Bishopstone, has been supplying meat to the people of Swindon since the mid-1980s.

The ambitious project has been overseen by organic farmer Tim Finney, whose energy and passion has ensured the launch of the hotel would be a big success.

The hotel’s new bedrooms are all named and themed after fields on the farm and the building work has also seen the pub’s kitchen and bar extended.

Helen Browning said: “Working with Arkell’s Brewery, we hope to have created something really special here, bringing elements of the farm and the beautiful Wiltshire countryside into each room.

“This is a really exciting moment for us. Not only can we welcome more visitors to the pub and Eastbrook Farm, but this new venture will create more jobs.

“At a time when many farms get by with very few people, I’m very proud that this place is so alive and busy.”

To mark the grand opening Sarah, Helen and George planted two little oak trees in the grounds of the hotel.

Speaking before the event, Tim described Helen Browning’s Organic as a “pioneering” business.

He said: “One of our main responsibilities is to create as many jobs as possible. I have never understood why people think it’s important to reduce them. We hope the hotel will bring jobs for a few more people in the village.”