Isle of Wight bed and breakfast accommodation, England
How this holiday makes a difference
Environment
We believe in supporting our natural environment and are members of the 'Gift to Nature' scheme, where donations are made to support conversation projects across the Island.
Ventnor is known for its temperate-micro climate, St Maur benefits from mature gardens around the property which we take great pride in maintaining to a high standard. We keep part of our side lawn less managed to encourage wild flowers and insects. We also welcome many varieties of birds and wildlife including lizards and the occasional red squirrel, badger and fox.
We recognise that the South East and especially the Isle of Wight are in a water stressed area, all of our toilets are dual-flush and we operate a towel reuse policy to reduce unnecessary laundering. This year we are introducing water buts to collect rainwater to irrigate the garden.
We have for many years believed in reducing the amount of waste that goes to landfill, currently the Island Council has poor recycling facilities so we have opted to use as private contractor that recycles all our waste, including food waste that is composted.
We encourage car-free guests by offering them a 10% discount, we also have extensive information on local walks, bus time tables and walk booklets. We hope during their stay our guests enjoy a number of car-free days.
Where possible we use local suppliers for meat, fish and vegetables. We adjust our menu to suit seasonality, reducing the need for imported produce. In our bar we stock a range of locally produced beers and a local wine. In our rooms we provide local 'white crystal' water and our guest toiletries are organic and sourced locally from Naturally Wight.
Community
We promote to our guests local independent restaurants, especially those serving local produce. We enjoy sharing our knowledge about the local high-spots including those more off the beaten track and less well-known.
David was president of Isle of Wight Chamber of Commerce and is still an active member of the Tourism Development Board campaigning for better tourist facilities across the Island, sometimes you can see a huge picture of him on side of Southern Vectis Bus, promoting Island businesses!
St Maur support local events such as landscape artists, the Ventnor Carnival, Band Concerts and the IoW Art Festival, believing that these community and cultural events are important to the residents and visitors to the Island.
Our chosen charity is currently Marie Curie, we also support the local hospice and Ventnor Carnival.
We promote local arts and culture, such as the Art in the Gardens which takes place in the nearby Botantical Gardens. We have a selection of paintings by a local artist in some of our public areas and hope to develop this further with other artists during the year.
We employ local people, many of whom we have trained using nationally recognised accreditations such Welcome Host, some of our staff have been with since 1989, some across generations!
Landscape
Ventnor town is surrounded by the southern part of the Island's Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, with Ventnor Downs, St Boniface, Stenbury Down and the Landslip all being features of real natural beauty.
The staff of St Maur are local people and actively promote the landscape element of the island to our guests. Having lived on the Island since 1966, proprietor David Groocock can personally recommend his favourite walks and hidden parts of the Island. David has even shot a video of some of his favourite walks which can be viewed on the St Maur website.
Although Ventnor is known as a coastal destination with a beach and quayside, we are keen to promote the easy access to the adjacent countryside, easily accessed either via the coastal path to the east and west of the town or directly north onto the Downs.
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