Northumberland self catering cottage, England
How this holiday makes a difference
Environment
At Hunting Hall we believe it is important to protect our environment and the wonderful natural heritage of Northumberland. Newt Cottage was designed around the research of a teenage environmental group, The Northumberland Eco Wild Team.
The team wanted to create a home where visitors could discover the pleasure of a green lifestyle whilst enjoying a wonderful holiday, exploring the beautiful natural heritage of Northumberland. The project was a great success. The team won the UK Volvo Young Environmentalists of the Year Award and travelled to an international youth conference in Sweden where they gave a presentation about the cottage. Two of the team attended a UNEP Youth Conference in Bangalore and Meg Burn addressed international delegates on the subject of sustainable lifestyles. Fiona Hall, our local MEP, kindly performed the Grand Opening of the cottage in May 2006.
Guests who visited Newt Cottage told us they had a wonderful holiday. Their enthusiasm and encouragement led us to create our second green cottage, The Fuffins.
Newt Cottage is warmed by an air source heat pump and The Fuffins has ground source heating. Both cottages have solar panels. Our electricity company is Ecotricity, they supply power to the grid from wind turbines. We’ve chosen ‘A’ rated energy efficient electrical appliances for the kitchen and used energy saving light bulbs. We hope you’ll join us in saving electricity by switching lights off and not leaving the television on standby! Enjoy experimenting with our electricity monitor - you may even win our fun electricity competition. The cottages are well insulated. You can view the sheep’s wool insulation through a viewing panel in the living room.
All the paints and wood oils used in the cottages are free of harmful solvents. We’ve used untreated European larch in the restoration work of Newt Cottage and have tried to buy solid wood furniture. The electricians have installed low smoke and fume wiring (non PVC) and we’ve chosen natural fibres, such as wool rugs, wherever possible. Classic unbleached organic cotton bed linen, towels and organic wool pillows provide a pure, simple luxury we’re sure you’ll enjoy.
To save water we’ve installed flow restrictors, showers and dual flush toilets. The Fuffins has a toilet with a rain water toilet flush system. The cottage gardens are watered with rain water collected in a barrel and natural spring water. A 2 part kitchen bin is great to help you recycle, and don’t forget to compost your garden rubbish. It’s important to use recycled products so you’ll see we have recycled glasses, paper, toilet rolls, tissues and pens.
Everything for the cottages is bought with consideration for the environment – so you’ll know food and drink, bathroom toiletries and cleaning products will be gentle to the environment and to you. We support local producers and buy locally where possible. We welcome cyclists and walkers to the cottages and hope that everyone who visits will share eco friendly ideas.
We care passionately for our local countryside and farmland wildlife and have introduced many wildlife conservation measures. As Wildlife Watch Youth Leaders we have enjoyed working with young people on the farm to protect wildlife. The teenage team have designed a farm trail leading through the peaceful surrounding countryside which describes this conservation work.
With the help of guests. schoolchildren and community groups we have planted 3105 trees at Hunting Hall. These will absorb more carbon than our holiday cottages create through energy use - which means that our business is carbon neutral.
We believe it is necessary to encourage the young people of today to discover their natural heritage and explore ways they can make a positive impact on the environment. We want the next generation to responsibly manage our environment and lead towards a greener future.
Community
Supporting our local community is an essential part of our business. Working with young people from local farms and villages, to share our love of the environment, led to the creation of our green tourism business; our teenage environmental group was the inspiration behind NEWT cottage and our farm trail.
We have participated and led several local low carbon community projects, planting woodlands, working with a local energy saving group and have recently created a community orchard on our farm for our neighbouring village. We donated the land, made paths, a car park, seating and invited the public to sponsor a fruit tree. In 2011 we planted 82 heritage fruit trees in our orchard with the help of 52 local volunteers. It has become a special place for our local community and helped the village win two 'golds' in the Northumbria in Bloom awards.
Our daughters promote and perform local traditional music. Alice is a Northumbrian piper and has played at several important venues to help more people enjoy the rich heritage of Northumbrian music. She has performed at the Proms, played with Sting and played live on radio 3. Alice is always willing to play for guests if she is available during their holiday.
We encourage all our guests to discover the wonderful heritage of this amazing Northumbrian coast; visiting castles, market towns and the Holy Island of Lindisfarne.
We produce rare breed pork on the farm, which is sold through the Traditional Breeds Meat Marketing Scheme and local butchers. We purchase biscuits and flour from Heathersaw Mill, the local traditional water mill, and honey from Chain Bridge Honey Farm - which this year had bee hives in our fields. Of course, we always try to buy locally whenever possible - there is a wonderful Green Shop in Berwick upon Tweed which supplies many of our needs. If you visit us, we hope you will try some of the great local produce of Northumberland.
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