East Devon holiday cottages, England
How this holiday makes a difference
Environment
Care for the environment is at the heart of what we do. Through the way in which we developed Mazzard Farm (think insulation, organic paints, low energy appliances and lighting, use of many recycled materials in the build), our facilities (i.e. Biomass heating, free logs, pesticide free gardening, recycling, bikes for hire) and encouraging green behaviours (recycling, staying local, arriving by train), we do what we can to ensure an as low as possible environmental footprint.
We encourage our guests to enjoy the flora and fauna on site, i.e. by opening up our woodlands, and through the 'Get Wild in Devon Scheme' we support.
By communicating positive messages around what we do and why ('did you know that the bottles we recycle weekly....'), rather than negative ones ('don't do this'), we hope that the sustainable behaviours we would like to see materialise. We have a lot of evidence that this works.
We encourage sustainable transport through provision of a discount + complimentary station pick up to those guests who decide to join us by train. Ensuring we provide many extras such as baby and toddler equipment ensures this is a viable option for guests.
We have GTBS Gold (Highly recommended) and are the 2010 winners of the Visit Devon Sustainable Tourism Award.
Community
We strongly believe that for us to be a strong, successful and sustainable business, we need to be rooted in a strong, successful and sustainable local environment.
With this in mind we have developed a whole raft of initiatives to help boost our local community. I.e.:
1. We send all our guests, well ahead of their arrival at Mazzard Farm, a detailed Guide to the Area, describing what they can find at their doorstep whilst staying with us. This has a strong bearing on their behaviours, both in terms of saving energy (driving fewer miles whilst here at Mazzard Farm) and encouraging / stimulating local businesses, attractions, places to eat and drink, etc.
2. We have developed a local shopping guide, encouraging people to 'buy local'
3. We involve various community groups, i.e. by inviting Brownies and the School to come and enjoy our facilities
4. We sit on local bodies, such as a school's business forum and a local tourism body
5. We help other tourism operators to go green
6. We have set up a local network of likeminded, progressive and high quality leisure and tourism operators, facilitating cross-business marketing and referring
7. We work hard to promote sustainable tourism, locally, regionally, nationally and internationally
8. We try, where possible, to source locally
1of3
