Devon self catering cottage nr Clawton

Elaine has been the chairperson of the local youth club for the last 6 years, secretary of Holsworthy Community College PTFA for the last 3 years, organizer of women’s sport group for the last 10 years. Dick has assisted and supported all the above. Elaine and Dick are now in the process of setting up a wildlife activity/interest group for members of the local community.

Elaine and Dick also offer the use of the wildlife activity room to local interest groups for wildlife activity events and lead guided walks and open days for the local community to get involved in the countryside and wildlife. Elaine and Dick have close links with the local primary school and playgroup who regularly visit the nature walks and will now benefit from the increased facilities with the wildlife activity centre. Elaine and Dick are developing links with North Devon College at Barnstaple and students of sustainable tourism will be visiting the nature walks in April as part of their studies. There are no charges raised for any of the above activities, it is a crucial part of the business that we can engage the community and take them with us.

Elaine and Dick privately support several charities on a regular basis, these include Oxfam, NSPCC, Help the Aged, Friends of the Earth, Sustrans, Soil Association, DWT, RSPB. Finances are a personal matter and the work we carry out is plain for all to see in terms of wildlife habitat protection, restoration and creation. Dick and Elaine are happy to share their work and ambitions with all guests who are invited to accept a guided walk and talk around our nature walks.

Dick and Elaine encourage guests to shop locally by offering to order local goods, offering to share homegrown produce, informing guests of locally available produce via links on the website and by emailing customers who book and offering to provide basic local shopping ready for their arrival. Customers can order local veg box scheme but currently this is delivered on a Wednesday which is not suitable for most bookings. Information is provided in the properties and on the website regarding local attractions and restaurants – only ones which have been tried by themselves or close friends within the last couple of years maximum are recommended. Dick and Elaine are always happy to talk to guests about their experiences and advise on local activities and travel.

Public transport is limited in this part of Devon but we do provide up to date bus timetables, telephone contact number for public transport information and details and assistance with bicycle hire, walking and route maps. Elaine has permit to drive Devon Community Minibus via her work with Youth Network.

We buy energy from Scottish Power Green energy hydro-electric scheme, we also in invest in wind power companies. Our home has solar powered hot water system which has been in place for about 4 years. Another cottage has solar panels and ground source heat pump. Planning application for wind turbine was turned down in 2007, we are considering reapplying. We use energy efficient light bulbs throughout all properties. We supply sava plugs for use on fridge and freezers. Carbon offsetting was done before we started – planting of approx 6 acres of indigenous woodland across the land in 2000, ongoing planting is carried out as appropriate in restoring hedgerows and habitat creation.

Water is collected by well system and 4 large water butts and by rainwater harvesting system. All properties have showers and toilets have water hippos or half flush options. Our barn uses rainwater for toilet flushing and laundry and wildlife activity room toilets.

Guests are encouraged to turn down beds which have been used to avoid unnecessary laundry. Towels are provided if requested at extra charge – usually only used by guests from abroad, this again discourages unnecessary laundry. All laundry is washed by Ecover, Bio D or laundry balls. Laundry balls or Ecover laundry tabs are provided at all properties to encourage use by customers. Bedlinen is changed after every guest or if requested during a 2 week holiday. Spare laundry is provided at all properties. We use Ecover cleaning products or Bio D or natural lemon juice, vinegar or warm water!

There are no pesticides or artificial fertilizers or chemicals used at any properties either on land or in the garden. Our own horse and chicken manure is used on fields and in the garden. We control garden ‘pests’ by use of nematodes, indigenous ladybird lavae, encourage toads and frogs, leave our ducks to graze the veg plot throughout the winter to control slugs and snails. We have 3 different wildlife ponds, we have bat, owl, many different bird and insect boxes, maintain natural, ancient and newly planted woodland, rough pasture, hedgerows, we leave areas of land wild and uncut, we trim hedgerows on a 3 to 4 year rotation, we harvest hay late in order to let wild flowers set seed. This is the tip of the iceberg to the wildlife work.

All garden and organic waste is composted. Guests have facilities to compost via our cornstarch and compost buckets (very popular and efficient) then used on the garden. We recycle and provide guests with facilities to recycle glass, plastic bottles, cans and drink tins, foil, paper and cardboard. We encourage guests to reduce, reuse and recycle. We are also able to recycle stamps, toiletries containers from Body Shop, greetings cards, printer cartridges, glasses, clothing. If it is obvious that guests have recyclable rubbish left in bin bags we get the rubber gloves on and sort rubbish for them, we send thanks to all our guests (nearly everyone) who does sort and recycle.

Our office is almost paper free: most bookings and payments are via email and telephone. All paper is reused if only one side is printed. Envelopes are reused with new address labels. All paper products are from recycled sources. We work from home and have a small low emissions vehicle for most transport use. We encourage lift sharing among friends and co-workers.