East Sussex camping huts, England
How this holiday makes a difference
Environment
The Original Hut Company has been built to help us protect the woods in which it is sited. Nick trained in woodland and game management at Sparsholt agricultural college He continues to put that knowledge to good use through managing this project. Each aspect has been carefully designed to have the minimal possible detrimental impact on the environment in which it is placed. The site is in an area of woodland that had been neglected for over 20 years: the trees had grown very tall and spindly fighting for light, little light was able to penetrate the dense upper canopy and therefore there was very little lower canopy growth and the wood floor was a tangle of brambles. As we have gradually brought the woodland back into a managed scheme, we have witnessed the most amazing rebirth of the woodland floor, beautiful native plants such as foxgloves and bluebells, which must have been dormant for years burst into life this summer. With them has come an increase in the insect life, and slowly but surely following on are birds, mammals and reptiles. I had the fright of my life on Monday when I popped into the wash hut and was greeted by a toad!!
In a bid to continue to preserve the woodland as well as provide useable accommodation we have been careful to use local and recycled products wherever possible throughout the build. The huts themselves are built on recycled caravan chassis, the roofs are made from an old corn bin many of the windows and doors are reclaimed. Much of the timber used for the flooring and worktops was sourced on the farm, from trees that fell in the 1987 storm. The low voltage lighting runs from a solar panel mounted on each hut, and provides enough light for comfortable useage, but not enough to cause any real light pollution. The heat is generated from logs, which are sourced from a sustainable coppicing programme around the farm as well as the prunings from our cider orchards, which would otherwise be considered a waste product.
Community
As an active part of the local community it is very important to us that the only impact our accommodation has on our friends and neighbours is positive. We work hard to actively promote activities and events in the local area and work in close conjunction with our 2 most local pubs The Castle Inn and The White Dog Inn, as well as the Bodiam Ferry Company and the Curlew Restaurant. Parsonage Farm is our next door but one neighbour and run a small farm shop named 'Busters' where they sell a range of local produce and home killed meats. Through them I offer a hamper service to our guests providing the opportunity for everyone who stays with us to enjoy some of the very best produce the area has to offer.
In the same way we use local trades and craftsmen for the many support services we require, from web design and advertising to tree surgery. We are currently working to support an up and coming local photographer who has asked if he can display some of his work in the huts. We try to promote potentially connected local businesses by building links to them from our website as well as providing information about them to our guests as part of their arrival literature.
Landscape
Having spent a lot of time and effort developing sustainable accommodation that works in harmony with the environment, we tend to attract guests with an interest in the landscape. With this in mind Nick and I make a point of making ourselves available each day to spend some time with our guests. During this time we find ourselves explaining what is currently going on, both on our own farm and others in the area. We show people changes that have occurred in the immediate woodland and offer advice on all aspects of rural life within this beautiful landscape from foraging to farming, forestry to fishing and everything in between. For those who arrive with us with less of an interest in the countryside around them I flag the key points of the countryside code in the written welcome notes. We work to promote other local businesses/attractions who are offering learning experiences, the most local is Sedlescombe Organic Vineyard; we show the footpath route to find it on our map of the farm as well as details of their woodland and vineyard trail. We provide details of other local things to see and do that we feel would enhance our guests’ experience of the landscape in our welcome notes.
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