Snowshill Arms, Broadway

I can remember coming here with my grandparents in about 1977, when I had my very first Camra Good Beer Guide and I wanted to try out the Donnington beers in this pub, which was a short drive from their weekend house a few miles away the other side of Chipping Camden. It turned out to be a longer drive than planned, as my grandfather had picked up on the name Donnington and started driving to the village near Stow on the Wold which has neither a brewery nor a pub. As Google maps would say, "recalculating" soon got us back on the right track, and I think we all enjoyed going to this gorgeous pub in yet another beautiful Cotswold village. The three Donnington beers were all on the bar at the time of my return visit last autumn, and the SBA was the best I had in this brewery's pubs (NBSS 3.5) while I was in the area. There are some interesting photos on the walls here, one of which shows the pub in 1898 when only the right hand side of the building existed. The slightly taller left hand side, with larger windows and more stylish stonework, is a later addition. Date of visit: 14th September 2023

Donnington Pubs in a nustshell. Gorgeous inside and out - externally, totally in sync with the surrounding cottages/church. All honey stone the Cotswold is famous for. Inside, lovely green benching in an airy, open plan pub. To sum up the beer - I overheard one barman say to the other "keep your eyes on the SBA, we had complaints yesterday". Heard when I was half way down my SBA :-) It was in keeping with the quality I have come to expect during my weeks walking around their tied houses.

Official site of Snowshill Arms - www.snowshillarms.co.uk

Official site of Snowshill Arms - www.snowshillarms.co.uk

A traditional, stone built pub in this very attractive Cotswold village, it’s in a lovely setting just opposite the church and village green and has both a small patio at the rear of the pub as well as a garden at the end of the car park which contained a number of children’s play things such as swings and a slider as well as having a small stream running through it. Internally it’s all exposed stone walls, although the stonework looks a little more modern than I would have expected going on the age of the building. It’s all one open plan room, although divided up in to different sections with some interior walling. A large stone fire-place was off to one side, and stacks of logs piled up next to it ready for the colder weather. Flooring was predominantly carpet with some wood strip around the bar, and a few old black and white photographs of the locale were on the walls. Seating was all padded with green vinyl and was a mixture of benches around the perimeter and stools at the chunky pine tables. Various farm implements were hung up above the bar as well as a number of brass jugs and such like. Beers on tap were all from Donnington with their BB, SBA and Cotswold Gold. The solitary cider was Stowford Press.