Donington le Heath Manor House Museum

Donington le Heath Manor House was tenanted by members of the Digby family from the early 15th century and they owned the site and its lands from the 1530s until 1627.

While John himself had been imprisoned in the Tower of London under suspicion of involvement n the Babington Plot against Elizabeth I, his nephew, Sir Everard Digby, had moved away having married a wealthy heiress in Buckinghamshire and had become a friend of Robert Catesby, the leader of the Gunpowder Plotters.

Sir Everard was asked to raise a Midlands rebellion after the Plotters had blown up Parliament and he was intending to kidnap the Princess Elizabeth, James I's daughter, from Coombe Abbey.

In 2016 the Site was refurbished as the 1620s House and Garden telling the story of the Catholic Digbys living in Protestant England.

All the rooms are fully furnished as they might have been at the time and the mixture of original and replica furniture and household objects can be touched and used - with one exception.

[citation needed] The Friends organisation for Donington exists to support the museum's further development through fundraising, and funds much of the work in the gardens.