The Plough Inn has a room that feels like it predates the pub itself, which in a sense it does — parts of the building are 13th century, which makes it older than most of the village around it. It's a multi-roomed place, low and traditional, with Castle Rock Harvest Pale, Draught Bass, and Timothy Taylor Landlord on the handpulls, and Old Rosie cider for those who've made their peace with the afternoon. CAMRA-listed. Dog-friendly, and not in the grudging way some pubs manage it — the staff bring water and treats without being asked.
The food is honest and priced accordingly. Wednesday gets you a beer and a main for twelve pounds. The rest of the week runs from fish and chips and steak pie through to lamb shank and pork stroganoff, with the homemade carrot and coriander soup served in a cottage loaf if you want something that doubles as its own bowl. Sunday roast offers lamb, beef, and pork with crackling, served lunchtime only. The nachos come with chilli con carne and garlic ciabatta, which is a combination that works better than it probably should.
Outside, the beer garden is spacious and well-kept.
Diseworth is a conservation area, designated in 1974, and it looks it. Half-timbered buildings line the streets. Several working farms sit within the village boundaries, which gives the place a texture most villages this close to an airport have long since lost — East Midlands Airport is five minutes up the road. You can hear a plane and smell a farm in the same breath.
The village is arranged around a staggered crossroads called The Cross, where four streets meet: Grimes Gate, Hall Gate, Clements Gate, and Lady Gate. St Michael and All Angels stands at the junction, 13th-century stone in Early English Transition style, a church that's been here in one form or another since well before the present building went up.
There are no shops. There are farms.
For walks, footpaths thread through the conservation area and out into the surrounding farmland, and the National Forest routes are close enough to reach without a car journey.
The Domesday Book recorded Diseworth in 1086 with twelve households and seven plough teams. It was considered important enough at the Conquest to be handed to a Norman knight. Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII, later bought a large part of the village to endow what became Christ's College, Cambridge, which is a considerable legacy for a settlement of this size.
The village's most famous son is William Lilly, born here in 1602, a farmer's boy who went to the local school, then Ashby de la Zouch grammar school, and eventually became the most celebrated astrologer in England. His prediction of the Great Fire of London in 1666 earned him a Parliamentary trial. He was acquitted.
The old Baptist Chapel — Grade II listed, erected sometime around 1752 or 1773, depending on who you believe — served as a place of worship until flooding in 2000 made it unusable. The Diseworth Heritage Trust converted it into the Heritage Centre, which opened in 2009. It now has local history displays, a coffee bar, and community meeting rooms.
The M1 and Donington Park are ten minutes away. There's no railway station.
Diseworth is currently fighting a proposed logistics park on adjacent farmland, part of the East Midlands Freeport plans. Residents have formed the Protect Diseworth group. The village has survived Norman knights, Parliamentary trials, and airport expansion. A logistics park is the latest thing it's being asked to absorb.
