Tel. +44 (0)1273 600030 (UK)
Staying at the B&B has been described by a guest as “an oasis of tranquillity in a busy world” and that’s what we have always tried to achieve, a little peace. We have escaped from the rat race, sold our car and decided to build upon our already strong green values by building a very eco-friendly B&B.
When building the B&B, our main aims were to harness solar power for heating water for the guests, harvest rain water for toilet flushing and clothes washing and to construct the house 100% sustainably. All these aspects of the house work very well along with a whole array of other green schemes.
Food is very important to us and we make sure that all breakfast items are organic and locally sourced. We feel that supporting the local community through our efforts in tourism contribute greatly towards the local economy. Weekly we use the local co-op store and buy fairly traded goods and I purchase all home-made cakes, preserves and locally grown flowers for the table for the guests from the local WI stall. On a weekly basis, we also have an organic fruit box delivered from Eostre Organics of Norwich who source their apples and mushrooms within a 20 mile radius. Oranges and bananas are of course, organic and fairly traded from Eostre as well. Organic milk is delivered from the only company who delivers to the door in bottles! - Dairycrest.
Monthly, I visit the farmers market for local organic sausages and bacon. We buy all our main food supplies from Rainbow Wholefoods of Norwich who deliver to our door. All cleaning products purchased from them are eco-friendly, foods are organic and some are fairly traded. Our eggs are produced from our own hens and we buy all the necessary foods and straw etc from our local pet shop, Bartrams.
Graham and I are both volunteer rangers for Sustrans and the National Cycle Network: Beccles to Halesworth and Beccles to Harleston. I am the Secretary for the Beccles Cycle Strategy which in general terms, works to improve cycling facilities and encourage more cyclists through this in Beccles.
We are part of a scheme to support barn owls in the area by purchasing a barn owl box and monitoring their numbers (The Suffolk Community Barn Owl Project). My husband, Graham is a volunteer with the Broads Authority and goes out once a week as a conservation worker. We help our local Tree Warden by "policing" the area. This means that we advise him if we see evidence of any suspicious behavior around tree felling in readiness for back-land development which there seems to be a lot of in this particular area. I am a member of the Beccles Tourism Forum who meet in Beccles every couple of months and I have recently been invited onto the Waveney Tourism Forum who take a keen interest in tourism in the area. It is my intention to encourage sustainable forms of tourism as a priority. We hold an Open Day for Suffolk Wildlife Trust where upon all proceeds go to the charity and local people have an opportunity to find out what's going on in the area as SWT bring lots of information.
We support PACT - People for Animal Care Trust - they are an animal sanctuary in Norfolk who currently have 600 animals and birds in their care waiting to be re-homed, League Against Cruel Sports - they lobby and campaign tirelessly for the protection of an array of wild animals, and Actionaid - they support people through intelligent projects in some of the poorest parts of the world. We have just been recognised by Waveney District Council for taking part in their Suffolk Breakfast Initiative
We do encourage people to use bus, train and local bike hire. The buses run every half and hour from Beccles to Lowestoft and Norwich. There is a twice weekly coach which takes you into Norwich for 4 hours of shopping which is extremely good value. The train station is about 1 mile walk and offers a good service to nearby towns. (All up to date timetables are always available and are easily visible for people to refer to). One person helps me with the cleaning on a very casual basis and we work together. She lives one mile away and cycles in. We always use local companies where ever possible and actively recommend them to anyone who needs information.
Sustainable transport is important to encourage and we feel, through our good examples that many guests take a few ideas home with them when they leave – we never preach, we never judge, we just quietly set good examples and welcome guests from all backgrounds to our home.
We invite every traveller who books a holiday via us to send in a review. Because we don't run the holidays they're completely independent and unedited... remember to read between the lines though, as two people on the same holiday can have different views!
