Yoga retreat in Turkey
How this holiday makes a difference
Environment
We recycle our bottles, waste paper, garden waste and separate our rubbish. We do not use pesticides in our own garden where we grow vegetables. The whole Datca Peninsular is a conservatory area either historical or natural so it’s very important for us to raise the level of environment consciousness by being a role model for our local community and our guests. We were selected as a green holiday centre by the National Geography Magazine last year.
We have an organic vegetable garden where we grow our own tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, aubergines, courgettes and herbs. Once a week there’s a local village market where we buy our fruit and vegetables directly from the villagers that we know in person.
Old Datca where our hotel is located is a third degree ancient city conservatory area so that the planning permission is strictly restricted and monitored. The building itself used to be an oilpress and it’s been renovated and rebuilt in stone and wood completely local materials as it was before.
We have solar heating system for heating water which support the hot water as well as the central heating in Winter. We use energy saving bulbs everywhere in the building. We insist on energy saving by encouraging the member of staff and our guests to turn their lights off when not used. We do not have TV in our hotel. People do not usually even lock their rooms during their stay so we can check the lights or fans and turn them off.
We use the rain water to water the garden. We have showers and half flush toilets. We do not use washing liquid for instance at the bar in the garden and recycle the water going down in the sink to water the garden. We explain our guests that we change their sheets after 3 nights of stay if they want to but if they are happy to have the same sheets for a week we do not change same goes with the towels.
We use natural things for some cleaning like lemon juice and vinegar for kitchen utensils and carpets and floors for the whole building without discriminating. We use eco washing up liquid. We do not use pesticides for our organic garden and only natural goat droppings as fertiliser which is very common in Turkey.
We host the bees in Spring for a couple of months in our ivy on one wall of the building and the birds. The whole ivy and our begonvillas are the natural nest for the birds mostly sparrows and swallows. Our garden is not too big to leave some parts to grow wild but time to time we leave the grassy meadow area which is the middle of the garden to grow wild.
We have a compost pit out under an oak tree where we leave our organic and garden waste. We recycle the glass bottles, plastic and batteries and recycle guests’ waste as well. We support the local environment association which I personally took part actively as well in the past either by helping out for a project or funding.
We do not have a significant paper usage in the office; we do not print unnecessary things and we recycle note papers. Since we’re located in a very small village we do not use transport so much anyhow.
We inform our guests about the conservatory areas on the Peninsular as the whole peninsular is either ancient or natural conservatory area. In fact, that’s the main attraction of the whole place.
Community
We support the local farmers who grow vegetables and fruit as well as olive oil and olive and cheese producers by shopping from them. We employ local people; our cleaning, gardening and guiding staff.
Our guests can support the local artisans and rug and carpet makers by buying their hand-made products which can be found in the village.
If and when we need extra yoga teachers or massage therapists, we employ local people, but most of the time we don’t have a big demand for these. We encourage our guests to visit local eateries and shops and local kilim/ carpet/silk viewing workshops in the village and the neighbouring village. Especially our local market on Saturdays is an attraction for our guests. Our guests use local minibus which is the only local transport here. We train our staff for them to be able to work with us. We use local plumber, electrician and builders for maintenance.
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