Environmental Policy

Climate change is a growing concern. It is up to us to take matters into our own hands and reduce our carbon footprints. We are trying to do the best we can, by ensuring we meet and exceed current environmental legislation, and prevent pollution to the surrounding area. This is a job in progress and one we will continue to work on. We would encourage all our guests to try to be as ecofriendly as possible while they are here and to please offer us any suggestions to help us on our way.

Here are some of the ways we try to reduce our carbon footprint and try to minimise waste, energy use and environmental impact.
We are members of the R.S.P.B. and a survey carried out by visitors staying in 2008 showed we have over 40 species of birds around our cottages and some rare moths butterflies and dragon flies. To encourage birds and insects we continually plant plants which are perfect for pollinators ie: Pieris, Buddleja, Clematis, Berberis, Cape Daisies, etc, etc.
We have been awarded a Gold Green Tourism Award for our environmental efforts and you can find out more about this by visiting the Green Tourism website.

We have also planted over 100 native trees which we grew from seed which we collected within a 5 miles radius of our cottages. We used to have our own native tree nursery on site and grew up to 60,000 native trees every year.

• We have a nature pond teaming with wildlife.
  We have bird and bat boxes located around the site and numerous bird feeders.
• We use low energy light bulbs and the insulation of the cottages is of a very high specification.
• We provide eco friendly washing powder, dishwasher tablets and washing up liquid for guests free of charge. Our washing machines are also energy efficient.
• We use eco friendly cleaning materials which our staff are trained to use safely.
• We use environmentally friendly washing and cleaning products in our own cleaning routine.
• We provide locally produced organic handwash and hand lotion.
• Our biodisk sewerage system is a natural way to dispose of human waste. The biodisk overflow goes into a 100sqm soakaway.
• We promote walking and cycling activities in the area and encourage our visitors to follow the Sustainable Tourism Visitor code.
• We have tried very hard to reduce our paper trail and do as much as we can on line regarding booking confirmations, payments and receipts etc
• We recycle all glass, paper and plastic waste. We also provide compost bins for vegetable kitchen waste.
• We support the Rag Bag scheme at our local primary school by donating old clothing etc which helps raise money for their funds.