Tipi accommodation in Sussex, England
How this holiday makes a difference
Environment
At Sussex Tipi Holidays we try where possible to limit the impact on our land.
We have a haven for wild animals. It's a bit of a sanctuary, the deer run free range and eat anything we try to grow, and the rabbits have no fear of humans as neither of us can bring ourselves to cut back their numbers.
In the winter it's possible to track the wild boar by their prints in the snow. Our orchards have never been sprayed and grass is kept long over many areas to encourage butterflies and insects.
We have run our on site re-cycling scheme for the last six years, we now re-cycle 70% of our rubbish, and compost 10% - cutting right back on landfill.
Our Tipi poles, (each tipi has seventeen) have all been sourced from a ten mile radius. We individually peel them by hand then dry and plane them. Our wooden pegs we make also from local copiced chestnut which comes from the woodyard next door and they have also always supplied us with the wood for our tipi fires. We have a small area of hazel which supplies us with just the right sort of wood for the lacing pins that hold the front of the tipis together. Each tipi has a hand-made fire bowl, and these are made from old car wheels. We even have giant lorry wheel for our big communal fire.
Our guests are only allowed 2 cars per tipi. Large groups are encouraged to car share or travel by train to Battle. Anyone arriving by car, parks in the car park and then transports their belongings to the site by wheelbarrow. This has proven to be a great hit with children. We decided four years ago to banish cars from the tipi fields and generally everyone thinks it's a great idea, in fact we have had people book especially because of this. Sussex Tipi Holidays is wholly committed to encouraging a sustainable environment and maintaining a natural and beautiful landscape.
Community
On our website and info pack we recommend local pubs restaurants and even our village chippy, great for a take out on a Friday night if the thought of campfire cooking doesn't appeal!
Friday morning is the farmers market at Brede, and Hastings has the best fish stalls right on the beach, along with the historic and the biggest beach launched fishing fleet with a real working beach. We have several local farm shops, an organic vineyard at Sedlescombe that offers guided tours and tastings. We also buy all our charcoal for guests to use on their BBQs from the Powdemill Woods in Battle, its fantastic, burns really well and its something else they don’t have to put in their car.
Next year we are planning a small on site shop, where we will sell local produce and our homemade Tipi Plum Jam.
Bodiam Castle is a great day out. It is possible to take the footpath across the fields to it have lunch at the Castle Inn then take the East Sussex steam railway to Tenterden and catch a bus back to Broad Oak.
Opposite our site main gate is the beautiful Brede High wood. Now owned by The Woodland Trust. We have maps and suggested walks ,there are plenty of tracks and ancient walkways once used by drovers.
We had a lot of people enquire about local bike hire last year we discovered Rye Bike Hire will deliver and collect to and from our site.
Where possible we encourage our guests to try the local produce eat in local pubs and experience as much of the close surrounding countryside without having to drive miles as there is plenty to do and see right on our doorstep.
Landscape
To enhance the experience of our visitors we have onsite information that informs them of local history and traditional lifestyles that are being actively preserved and defended by local and national influences.
The High Weald is an area of outstanding natural beauty that provided everything that was needed to traditional inhabitants. The area is made up of small hamlets (villages) that were self supporting through careful use of the local environment. Woodlands offered not only firewood but building materials for houses and tools. Farmers would lead their livestock through the woodlands along droving roads, fattening them up for when they reached a local market town. When our guests visit the woods opposite our site they can still see evidence of these droving tracks, iron ore quarries and also charcoal pits where traditional woodsman utilised the woodland.
With maps we can show our guests how the patchwork quilt layout of the area is from how farmers only cleared small areas of woodland to grow vital crops. This is why the area is so rich in hedgerows which itself delivers food and shelter to the vast variety of wildlife.
Our site has mature hedgerow and tree lines that can be seen on maps dating back hundreds of years, but as our guests explore the local area they can see these crucial mini habitats.
We also have information that informs our guests of charitable organisations that are striving to maintain and manage the woodlands. Recently Brede woods had an area of coniferous forest removed which has a damaging effect on diversity, in its place an area has been left open for natural broad leaf species to reintroduce itself. With careful management and coppicing (periodical clearance) the woodlands are thriving.
By informing our guests of these actions we hope that they gain an understanding of how the Weald is a carefully managed environment, that benefits flora, fauna and brings jobs to the local people.
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