A MALMESBURY hotel has won a famous award on the anniversary of its opening. 

Exactly a year after throwing its doors back open, The Old Bell Hotel in Malmesbury has been voted the Best Hotel in Wiltshire 2022 by readers of the prestigious Muddy Stilettos guides.  

The business is owned by Texan Entrepreneurs and Malmesbury family descendants, Kim and Whit Hanks, who said it means "so much" to get the recognition after only a year in. 

The hotel’s Creative Director Kim Hanks has been responsible for refurbishing the hotel’s bedrooms, giving each one a ‘unique character,’ curating ‘high design interiors’ in the hotel, offering an array of food and drinks and creating a warm and welcoming atmosphere.

Lesley Wood from Whim Hospitality said: “We are all absolutely thrilled, especially as the award was announced a year to the day of our re-opening on June 21, 2021.   

"We love all our guests and we get great feedback from them, which we’re really proud of.”  

As CEO of Whim Hospitality, Kim has grown her business from a small rental company in Dripping Springs, Texas to one of the largest and fastest-growing female-led businesses in the US.   

The diverse and ever-growing range of services has put the business on the Austin Business Journal’s Fast 50 and the Inc. 5000 list for four consecutive years- and it has even won local and national awards for its quality of service for rentals, florals, catering, and event management.  

Whit Hanks, who also runs the business founded a successful antique business, specialising in architectural and international antiques in the mid-1980s while also working as a real estate developer in the Central Texas region.

He began acquiring property in the Dripping Springs area in 1985, started developing Camp Lucy in 2008, and co-founded Whim Hospitality with Kim in 2012.  

It has been a busy month for the hotel, as in June the highly anticipated outdoor Tyger Bar opened to a great response from guests.    

Named with reference to Hannah Twynnoy, the Malmesbury barmaid killed by a travelling circus Tyger in 1703, the bar has a tropical theme and sells cocktails, drinks, and food in all weathers with radiant heaters and blankets for chillier times.   

The Tyger Bar is open from midday to last orders at 10:30pm.