Transylvania rural accommodation, Romania
How this holiday makes a difference
Environment
We restored the house in a authentic, traditional way. That means we used traditional raw material (lime and sand,) and traditional techniques. In many situation we re-used old bricks and tiles, old peaces of wood. The painting of the exterior and the interior is in lime. We restored the facade in order to help the conservation of the ancient atmosphere of the village. As result, the house that suffered in the past some modernisations, has now the look of a traditional house in almost each details. To complete the feeling, we are colecting old local recipes leting our guests tho experience authentic Transylvanian and Romanian meals.
We are buying as many is possible from the village: that means low usage of fuel and sustaining the community. We encurage the guest to visit the neighborhood walking or using bycicles. Our tours are only walking tours or using the horse-cart transport. There are some limitation. We prefere to put first the traditional architecture, even this eliminate solar or photovoltaics pannels. In the other hand, we are using low energy light bulbs, A+ refrigerators and washing machines.
Wahter is important. Our bahrooms are equiped only with showers, and the toillets’ flush are in two steps. We are irrigate the vegetables garden using the well wather.
Community
We belive that supporting the commuinity is important. When we started the restoration of the house we worked with locals in order to decrease the unimployment. Now we continue to support local community by:
-buying local products and paying a fair price, that is sensible higher than the price payed by the industrial collectors; we are buying local eggs, milk, cheese, some meat, honey.
-prefering to work with local people in picking wild fruits from the forest and mushrooms.
-working with local people as much is possible: as craftsmen, to maintain the house.
-creating opportunities for locals to take advantage by tourism’s economy ( visiting the farmhouses or the craftsmen, promoting their products for direct sell to the tourists, or using their transport services);
Our tours are introducing our neighbours to the tourists attention: our guests can visit some farmhouses being in contact with the kind of life of locals. Mean time, the locals understand that conserving the authenticity and the cultural heritage of the village is importing not only for us, but for many other people, and that this can improve the life of many families. We are trying to be a good example for the community showing that our way of doing tourism is sustainable.
