New Forest bed & breakfast in Brockenhurst, England
How this holiday makes a difference
Environment
Our accommodation has been awarded 'Gold' on the Green Tourism Business Scheme.
In 2007 we have won 3 awards: The Sustainable Business of the Year "South East – TSE" award, the Brilliance in Business "Best Use of Local Produce" award, and were highly commended in the Green Hotel of the Year "Caterer & Hotelkeeper" award.
We actively support local farmers and the local economy by purchasing as many of our products as possible from producers carrying the New Forest Marque. The New Forest Marque is only given to producers who satisfy the scheme’s requirements for sourcing ingredients from within the New Forest. We actively encourage children from the local school, from brownies and cubs visit our property to learn about local produce.
We do tastings with local children to introduce them to the delights of local foods. The owner, Christina Simons, goes into the local primary school to share her thoughts and experiences of local produce with the children.
Christina also does cooking demonstrations using local ingredients at the New Forest Show both live on radio and in front of a live audience. Christina is also an active member of the team developing local produce around the forest and hosts meetings of the committee. As chair of the hotels group she trying to make environmentally friendly information available to as many hoteliers in the forest as possible. The B&B is powered with Green Energy with low evergy light bulbs throughout. We have a recycling policy in place and have reduced portion packs in bedrooms by using 330ml bottles. Towels and sheets changed every three days and are washed with Ecover products.
We encourage our guests to use the local village (we give them a map of the village on arrival and encourage them to use it). We have local menus in our Snug Bar to encourage guests to use local restaurants. By visiting us through Responsible Travel you are helping us define the size of the market. This helps other hoteliers identify how many customers care about the environment.
Community
We focus very clearly on purchasing locally, in the UK or fair trade produce. The majority of our breakfast is locally sourced. All our cereals are either Jordons or Weetabix - the only two UK cereal manufacturers who openly champion British farmers.
All our tables in the breakfast room, for example, come from a white poplar tree that was taken down in a nearby school. The roots were damaged. White poplar is a rare tree. This particularly tree was a fine specimine that had been a landmark within the school grounds but had become unstable because the roots were no longer strong enough to support the tree in a gail. Instead of becoming firewood this ancient and much loved tree is now a vital part of our everyday business and is much admired by the customes using the tables.
Equally two beech trees were taken down in our village. These beautiful beech trees have been made into a four poster bed, a wardrobe, a mirror and two beautiful tables to adorn the Standing Hat room at Cottage Lodge.
We buy second hand furniture from other hotels, refurbish them and use them. Sometimes the original owners don't recognise their furniture once it has been refurbished!!
We are support local projects particularly the transition movement. The owner, Christina Simons, is part of the grow local campaign.
We offer our team good working conditions, a fair wage and invest in their development with a range of training opportunities. In return we have a loyal team who have been with me for many years. In some cases since the day I started the business.
We put local artists pictures on the walls and support them by selling their work. We use a local wood turner to make our key fobs.
We encourage our customers to leave their cars at home. If this is not possible we encourage our customers to leave their cars in the car park and walk or cycle. We provide cycle hire and walking maps.
Landscape
We offer cycle hire and circular walking routes to help our customers to enjoy the local landscape. On the routes we suggest things that our customers might look out for to encourage their understanding of the landscape. Every customer is given a copy of the 'five ways to love the forest'. This small and simple leaflet encourages customers to think about ways in which they can tread lightly when using the forest.
We try and bring the landscape into the business. On the walls we have written a number of interesting facts about the New Forest National Park, the local area and the Cottage Lodge. By writing these key facts on the walls it encourages people to better understanding of the forest.
We also use local wood and local materials wherever possible to give a feeling of the forest. For example our two newest rooms are built from New Forest Douglas Fir. This beautiful wood has a pinkish tinge. Guests staying in both of these rooms can see the wood and enjoy its beauty.
Every customer is given a copy of the New Forest booklet - Discover the New Forest. This booklet has key information about the nature of the landscape. In the summer months we promote the New Forest Tour Bus, which takes customers around the forest giving them a very good overview of the landscape.
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