Deal B&B guest house in Kent

Our main charity is the Macmillan Nurses, which we support through the National gardens Scheme. We applied in 2007 and our garden will be open under the scheme in September 2009. Working in the garden to achieve the standard required by the scheme plus the B&B takes up all of our time.

We provide maps of local towns with charity shops marked thereon and details of special offers for the ferry to France. We support local butchers, free-range poultry farmers, farmers markets, plant nurseries and farm shops. We have amassed a considerable amount of information re local restaurants and dining clubs. Places of interest and local walks, plus local events and activities such as museums, steam trains and free concerts or plane and balloon flights over the “White Cliffs of Dover” We are not on the local bus route, but do provide a collect and deliver service to the train and National Bus. We are on Routes 1 & 2 of the National cycle network. 

We minimise waste by recycling all: wood into the wood burner, which heats our sitting room, rainwater off the terraces and roofs, collected into the 5000 gall underground tank, which we use for watering the garden. We compost all paper tissues, flowers cuttings, weeds and vegetable waste, which is used as a soil improver. Excess vegetables are made into soups. Glass, tins and paper are recycled. Plastic water bottles are used as mini cloches, for individual plants. Milk containers are made into plant labels. Urine is recycled into compost accelerator. We have a laundry scheme where all laundry is dried outside. We are trying the Ecological No Soap balls and use fluff balls instead of comfort for the towels.

To offset carbon we have planted 50 young trees in the garden. We recycle unwanted items through charity shops and send cartridges and stamps to charity. Excess soft fruit is made into compotes or frozen. We use printer paper, kitchen and toilet rolls made from recycled paper. We do not use plastic bags for shopping and always take our own "bags for life". We recycle our extensive video collection by transferring onto DVD for guest use.

We reduce energy consumption by minimising car journeys and shopping for neighbouring senior citizens, working from home and by using low energy light bulbs where possible. We do batch cooking and freezing in portions and bake our own bread and scones. TVs and DVD players are never left on standby and all unnecessary lights are switched off. We do not use flat screen TVs because they are higher in energy use. We have showers in all ensuite rooms. We place water savers in the toilet cisterns. We use ecological cleaning products such as vinegar and water. We use animal manure as garden fertiliser. 

We use local decorators who also built the house. We now have a self employed gardener, previously we did all the work in the garden. We do not employ any staff, a part from a local person for soft furnishings. We use local butchers for Kentish bacon and sausages, and home grown tomatoes, potatoes for home made hash browns, flowers, fruit and vegetables. Others we buy in the farm shops or farmers market. We use the local fishmonger and game supplier. We sometimes buy cheese etc in France which is 20 miles away.