Landour holiday cottage, Uttarakhand, India
How Landour holiday cottage, Uttarakhand, India makes a difference
Environment
We already use Solar energy to heat water. We have installed a 1000 litre solar water heater that provides 24 hours hot water. In the near future, we plan to be self reliant in generating electricity for lighting using photo-voltaic cells. We use CFL and LED lighting in all areas. We have installed LED TVs in all rooms as they consume half the energy as compared to a LCD/Plasma TV.
As water is precious in the mountains, we harvest rain water and have a capacity of 20,000 litres and are planning to expand it by another 10,000 litres. Upon arrival, we sensitise our guests to use water judiciously by using buckets instead of the showers and to re-use the bath and bed linen as is practised in all eco-sensitive establishments.
Being a member of KLEEN (Keeping Landour Ecologically & Environmentally Natural), we ensure that all our garbage is segregated into bio-degradable and non-degradable. The non-degradable garbage is picked up by KLEEN and sent for re-cycling. The wet garbage is turned into manure in our compost pit and used as a fertilizer for our plants. We have our own kitchen garden and use organic produce as much as possible. All our guest toiletries are organic, chemical free and hand made. The 3 R's - Reduce, Re-use and Re-cycle are our credo.
As our ongoing committment to the environment, within five months of operation, we have already planted over 100 rhododendron, bamboo and oak saplings in our estate and would continue to do so by encouraging our guests to plant saplings as well.
In all our rooms, we provide a handbook on the flora and fauna of Landour that our guests can refer to when they go for their walks in the pine and cedar forests.
We also encourage our guests to reach Dehra Dun by rail instead of driving by car all the way from Delhi.
Being located on the highest part of the ridge, we encourage our guests to walk down to the Mussoorie Mall (about 4.5 kms from La Villa Bethany) thereby reducing the carbon footprint.
Community
La Villa Bethany was conceived with a vision of passing the blessings what we were so richly bestowed with forward to the less fortunate. All our staff (currently 7) are local youth from extremely humble backgrounds. We have taken them on board and given them training on the basics of hospitality, hygiene and safety.
All resources are locally procured. The soft furnishings and guest toiletries are sourced from various self help groups that are working with underpriviliged rural women.
We actively support local artisans and encourage our guests to experience and purchase their produce like the home made peanut butter and preserves from Sister's bazaar, custom-made footwear from Landour Bazaar, applique and patchwork quilts from Stree Shakti, Purkul and shawls, stoles and wollens from Himalayan Weavers.
Being a bed and breakfast, our main focus is a full English breakfast which has been highly appreciated by our guests. However for lunch, we encourage our guests to try out the local eateries that are in Landour and in Mussoorie. We also use local youth as guides to take our guests on nature trails and heritage walks in and around Landour. We actively support local taxi operators by hiring their services for our guests.
Landour holiday cottage, Uttarakhand, India
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