Donnington brewery was started by Richard  Arkell in 1865. The brewery has been owned by the Arkell family ever since and today is managed by the grandson of the founder. Until the mid 60's barley grown on the local estate was used in the brewing process, but today the malt is brought from Norfolk, together with local Worcestershire hops with the small amount of sugar being the only imported ingredient. The original Mill still features in the brewing process and the mill wheel drives some of the machinery used by the brewery. Donnington's traditional beers still largely use the original recipe, the water being drawn from a spring beside the mill pond and used in it's natural state.

The brewery produces three draught beers, two bitters and a mild.

The brewery has 15 Inns throughout the 'Donnington area' and there is a book, "The Donnington Way" written by Colin Handy and produced by Reardon and Sons which suggests walks between the various 'pubs' most of which offer some accommodation.
 

Local History

The New Inn itself is between 300 and 400 years old and has the wonderful beamed bar that most people associate with a pub of this age.

The village of Willersey straddles the Broadway to Stratford-upon-Avon minor road B4632 and will hold the attention of all who love old houses. Its manor house was home to the Roper family, William Roper becoming son-in-law to Sir Thomas More. The church of St. Peter is famous for its peal of six bells, cast in 1712 by Abraham Rudall and an incription on the tenor bell reads 'ring for peace merily' to celebrate the signing of the Peace of Utrecht. Willersey is on the walk known as the Donnington Way a short section of which leads to Saintbury, a tiny hillside village with church of great interest and several wonderful stone cottages.

Broadway

 Broadway is an attractive place, and if you can visit in off-peak season you'll find a lot to recommend the town. Above Broadway proper is Broadway Tower (sometimes called Beacon Tower or Fish Inn Tower) a striking folly built by Lady Coventry in the 1790s.

The Tower was once the home of Arts and Crafts Movement founder William Morris, and today is is the centrepiece of an extensive country park. It is said that on a clear day you can see 14 counties from the tower, and certainly the view over the surrounding countryside is superb. Of the numerous lovely buildings in the town itself, perhaps the most notable is Abbot's Grange, a 14th century manor that once belonged to the abbots of nearby Evesham Abbey. The original hall, abbot's study, and chapel can still be seen, though the building was remodelled in the Tudor period.

Stratford upon Avon

There must be very few cultured people in the world who have never heard of the attractive Warwickshire town of Stratford-upon-Avon. The reason, of course, is because it is the home of England's national bard, William Shakespeare and the continuous flow of tourists to this town confirms its national and international reputation. Although an historic town in its own right everything evolves around the greatest playwright and poet of all time.

From a Small Manor to a Regional Trading Centre

From archaeological finds we know that the area now known as Stratford-upon-Avon was inhabited in the bronze age, although nothing precise is known of these inhabitants.The name of the town is of Saxon origin and means the area where a road crosses a river (Avon) by a ford (Strat-ford). Presumably this refers to a Roman road crossing the river Avon near which there must have been a Roman settlement but again no documents have survived to confirm this.This area was dependent on Worcester Cathedral and part of the Saxon kingdom of Hwicce, later to become part of the more powerful Kingdom of Mercia.

By AD 691 there was a monastery either on or very near the site of the present day parish church of Holy Trinity. In fact the first documented reference to a place of worship in the area is in the charter of 845 granting privileges to a small existing minster church. However, nothing remained of this monastery at the time of the Norman conquest (1066). 

The settlement continued to grow around this place of worship and knew nothing of the great social upheaval brought about by the Norman Conquest, mainly because the Saxon Bishop of Worcester, Wulfstan, supported the invaders. He was therefore allowed to continue and consequently the transitional period from the old to the new order was more of an evolutionary than a revolutionary process as far as this area was concerned.

With the increase in agriculture following the clearing of the nearby Forest of Arden in 1196 a charter was obtained from King Richard I for a weekly market for the produce. It was around this market that the new town came into existence. This would explain the distance from the original old town to the present-day town centre. The two different settlements grew independently but not without local hostility. One inconvenience was that the new townspeople had to worship in the old parish church.

By the 14th century, from a small manor owned by the Bishop of Worcester, Stratford became a centre of trade for the region. This was a significant development bringing with it great prosperity. The original location of the market was most probably in Rother Street but was later relocated in the area where we have the junction of High Street, Bridge Street and Henley Street. Now the market has returned to Rother Street (without the sale of cattle as in the Middle Ages). The last remnant of the medieval fairs in Stratford is the Mop, which takes place 12th October and which used to be where the local workers in search of work were hired.