New Forest B&B in Bockhampton, England
How this holiday makes a difference
Environment
At Forge Place we care about our environment and we are committed to working in a sustainable way and take care to reduce, re-use and recycle at all times.
We seek to offer guests the most comfortable and relaxing stay possible while ensuring that we do all we can to support the environment and local community.
Our priorities are helping guests to enjoy the New Forest scenery, natural life and local produce. We have lots of resources to help you enjoy the locality, without using your car. Minimising our consumption of energy without compromising the elegance of the house. Minimising wastage of water.
Maximising our recycling and ensuring our guests have facilities to recycle as well. We encourage our guests to join us in recycling paper, plastics, and glass.
We aim to maximise the use of produce from our garden and locally sourced goods in our breakfast menu. Our overall aim is to grow, bake or make the majority of our products we serve at breakfast.
Our eggs are from our own flock of chickens. Left over toast and vegetables at breakfast are given to the girls and in turn they provide us with not only eggs but manure for the garden!
We compost all suitable material. We have a very productive vegetable garden and use rainwater wherever possible to water it.
We use solar power from our roof panels to generate our electricity and are fitting low energy bulbs wherever practicable (reducing our carbon impact). We are replacing electrical appliances when required with ‘A’ rated or higher appliances and aim to purchase durable long-lasting goods.
Community
We provide our guests with up to date information about local events and places to visit during their stay in The New Forest. We have a comprehensive range of books, maps and guides about the area to help our guests plan their itineraries.
Although we aim to source as much of our breakfast from our own garden and allotment, our own flock of ‘girls’ of course lays the eggs. We also support carefully selected local businesses that supply us with produce we can’t grow or rear ourselves. We feature the finest local sausages and bacon from Owls Barn Farm Shop. All their pork comes from free ranging pigs some of which have pannaged for acorns in the forest.
We encourage our guests to support the small businesses in the area by promoting and supporting our local shops and restaurants. We have over the years built-up excellent relationships with many local restaurants, pubs and shops who share a similar business ethos to ours and are happy to recommend them to our guests.
John is an active member of the Rotary Club who supports many local projects and charities. Caroline volunteers with Contact The Elderly and hosts regular Sunday afternoon tea parties for people over 75, who live with little or no social support.
We where at all possible use local labour for building and on-going maintenance of our buildings and gardens.
Landscape
We pride ourselves on being able to share our knowledge and experience of the New Forest National Park with our guests.
On arrival we welcome our guests with home made chocolate cake and draw their attention to the wealth of information we provide on the area including maps, guidebooks, leaflets on destinations, activities, events to help them enjoy the local landscape.
We encourage guests to escape from the confines of the car and head out on foot, bike or horseback to get a really intimate understanding of the forest, its coast and villages.
At breakfast we have another opportunity to help our guests get the most out their stay in the New Forest. Sharing experiences, swapping stories and making sure they don’t miss out in that really special place or experience that will give our guest that memorable holiday.
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