Our Green Ethos

Park Farmhouse is part of what remains of the Donington Estate, which was broken up after the army returned it to the Shields family in 1956, having taken it over in 1939 for the war effort. Donington Hall and the race track were no longer viable and had to be sold off.

It took seven years to clear the scrap metal from the rest of the land before it could be used for Agriculture. What was able to be salvaged has now been moulded into what we hope is a sustainable and inter-dependent enterprise.

The Deer Park is now larger & contains some 350 head of deer. This is a truly wild herd, with no human intervention allowed. All the venison is butchered and used on the Estate. The park is a SSSI, which means that no chemicals or fertilizer are applied to the land. The park is famous for its collection of ancient Oak trees and the invertebrates that live in them. All new trees are planted from our own acorns, and the park is actively managed with the help of Natural England.

The 150 acres of woodlands are managed under a 20 year plan with the Forestry Commission. The idea is to produce a sustainable supply of timber to heat & supply hot water for the entire Hotel complex through a district heating scheme, replacing 9 existing boiler systems which currently use oil & gas. The boiler house is currently under construction and the first phase of the scheme should be working in the Spring of 2012.

In 2010 we acquired the field opposite the Hotel. In this we have put a septic tank, which replaces six existing tanks, which will be converted to hold surface water for the gardens.

We have built three reed beds, which will filter the Hotel dirty water, returning it to the Spring as clean, usable water. This project is still on-going, and the first phase will open in January 2012.

In 2011 we installed 46 solar panels, which now provide daily electricity for the function and conference barns. We also appointed new waste contractors, and now not just the glass, but all our non-food waste is re-cycled.

The Hotel itself is run with practical green policies in mind. There are plans to replace all lighting systems with LED lighting in the future and to compost all of the Hotel’s food waste.