Remembering Claude Arkell

Donnington has the deserved reputation of enjoying the loveliest setting of any brewery in the country. It's in the Cotswolds, an area of gently undulating, wooded countryside, and small towns and villages of mellow stone buildings.

Close to the lovely old market town of

Stow-on-the-Wold, Gloucestershire, its buildings are fronted by a mill pond, where geese, swans and weeping willows provide an exquisite background.

My heart stood still when I heard last week that Claude Arkell, the brewery's owner, had died. Would this mean the end of this idyll: a lovely brewery in a beautiful setting, producing superb cask beers for a clutch of unspoilt rural pubs?

But within hours of the announcement of Claude's death it was reported that his relatives James and Peter Arkell, who run Arkells Brewery in Swindon, would keep Donnington going.

Claude was a remarkable character: he was 89 and, save for service as a pilot with the RAF in World War Two, he had always worked at the brewery.

I wish I had got to know him better, but he was a quiet and private man. My first visit to the brewery was unscheduled: I happened to be in the area and thought I would drop in.

But no-one was there. Brewers start work early in the day and had finished their shift by the time I ambled by. I was able to walk round the site and take some pictures of its delightful setting.

My second visit was arranged with Claude on the phone but I failed to mention I would be bringing my wife, Diana, as she was keen to visit the Cotswolds. When we arrived, Claude refused to let her in. "Breweries," he said, "are not places for women."

That didn't go down well with Mrs P, so it was a short visit. I went solo the next time and Claude rose to the occasion, taking me round the brewery and showing me recipe books from the 19th century, when the brewery produced porter, table beer and Best Ale, as well as a Christmas Ale with a gravity of 1078, which is close to 8% in modern terms.

The term "unspoilt" doesn't do justice to Donnington. It is powered by a water wheel that provides energy for brewing and fermenting as well as cleaning. The mill is part of a feudal estate that dates back to 1291. In the 16th century it was used as cloth mill and was converted to grind corn about 1580.

It became a bakehouse until the Arkell family from Swindon bought the buildings. Richard Arkell started to brew there in 1865. His grandson, Claude, continued to brew in a slow, country way, using water from a spring beside the mill pond and Fuggles hops from neighbouring Worcestershire.

Claude brewed a 3.5% BB and a 4% SBA. Demand for his XXX mild had fallen so low that he produced it only occasionally by adding caramel to the BB. He sold his beers in 15 delightful tenanted pubs as well as the local free trade.

This is Laurie Lee country and the inns where the author sketched his work, including Cider with Rosie, are, in common with the brewery and the beers, wonderfully unspoilt. The Good Beer Guide catches the flavour of the pubs with its description of the Black Horse at Naunton: "Traditional Cotswold stone village inn, replete with black beams, stripped stonework, flagstone flooring, wooden settles and cast-iron framed tables. Home-cooked food is served in the old snug."

Claude Arkell served this community with quiet passion and commitment for nearly 90 years and it's reassuring to know that his work will continue.

James Arkell told me that he and his father will run Donnington and their Swindon brewery: "We'll keep Donnington in the family - we all love it as much as Claude did."

There's a famous quote from the French-born writer Hillaire Belloc, who moved to Britain and grew to love our pubs: "When you have lost your inns, drown your empty selves, for you will have lost the last of England."

He should have added Donnington Brewery for good measure.

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