Tel. +44 (0)1273 600030 (UK)
Over the past 5 years, we have used local services as much as possible. This includes using a team of local builders for all our building projects and using local labour, local suppliers and local services as much as possible. We have in past run some courses for charity (Amnesty international and Greenpeace).
We utilise a Solar panel for water heating, a wood burning stove for space heating, a compost toilet in one of the houses, and a rain water collection system. We buy products in bulk, or produce it ourselves (most of the vegetable come from our own land).
We recycle:
- All organic waste (compost, used in the garden).
- All food waste (fed to the animals)
- Cardboard (used as mulch in the garden and the woodland)
- Some of the glass is recycled on site (used to bottle our own products), the rest sent for recycling on the main land.
- All paper and metal waste is sent back for recycling on the main land.
Every year we plant trees on our farm to partially offset our carbon footprint. In the past five years, we have planted over 5000 trees. We do use local contractors and buy local produce whenever possible.
We hope that locals will be inspired by the example we have set. Running an eco-tourism business from the island has proved challenging, but we have managed in making it a success, and some local people are now taking an interest in it. One other tourism business has installed a solar water heating system, for example, and another local B&B is interested. We have also provided a lot of business for local builders, as we were expanding our accommodation capacity over the past 5 years. We hope to includes on some of our courses some traditional skills and craft, taught by local people. For example, one of our neighbour is a traditional weaver and we will run a course jointly in September. Some helpers and woofers coming here have also made a positive contribution to the local community. And last, but maybe not least, we invite the local school children for a visit of the woodland and garden once or twice a year.
We invite every traveller who books a holiday via us to send in a review. Because we don't run the holidays they're completely independent and unedited... remember to read between the lines though, as two people on the same holiday can have different views!
