SUSTAINABILITY

We weren’t sure that anybody really wanted to read a sustainability “mission statement”, mainly because we think everybody knows that a lot needs to change. So, we’ll focus on the changes we’ve made – and the things we’re planning – to make our home and our business more sustainable.

What we have in place:

Biomass boilers for heating and hot water that burn only approved, sustainably sourced fast-growing wood with reduced carbon emissions (and a locked-in carbon cycle).
Electricity from 100% renewable sources (onshore and offshore wind, solar).
Low-energy LED lightbulbs in 80% of light fittings. As the old-style halogen bulbs burn out, we replace them with LEDs.
Double glazed wood framing for almost every window.
Handwash, washing powder and washing up liquid from manufacturers who have eliminated single-use plastic and who have a stated policy on using natural ingredients.
Waste management. Our local authority isn’t able to offer glass collection, so we manage this ourselves. If guests aren’t able to take their used glass home for recycling, we collect it and take it to a recycling point ourselves.
As a couple, we use personal care products (shampoo bars, deodorant refills, shaving soap bars) that are free of single-use plastic and use natural ingredients.

What we plan to do next:

Improve our on-site signs to encourage our guests to conserve water and electricity.
Move our wood management to an electric power source (battery-operated chainsaw).
Work with local re-wilding experts to make selected parts of our site havens for wildlife.
Develop our plans to move to solar and wind-generated power on site. Expensive, but worth the time and money.
Develop a more effective way of encouraging guests to reduce food waste and find a workable method for composting any remaining leftovers.
Move our pooches to a more sustainable dog food (we need to find one that doesn’t create “digestive challenges”!)

A longer-term commitment:

Sustainable products and services are becoming the norm, so we’ll keep looking at what we can realistically afford to put in place by reviewing our operations twice a year.