Tel. +44 (0)1273 600030 (UK)
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One of the main factors in choosing the location of our holidays is the community in which we stay, where traditional ways of life survive, although they are often on the retreat.
We work closely with our local family-run accommodation providers to bring benefits to the community by way of business when they need it. We work with the ebb and flow of their busy times and the Italian holiday periods to ensure that we not only boost their high season bookings, but much more importantly, during their lean periods we are there to provide valuable shoulder-season income.
Exploring the heart of the Majella National Park on foot, we encourage visits to the botanical gardens to improve understanding of and sensitivity to the remarkable local flora.
The locally based Forest Protection League has an otter breeding programme to reintroduce these elusive animals to the Nature Reserve of the Orfento Gorge. We encourage organised visits to the Otter Breeding Centre to support the programme and develop understanding of the project. It may also be possible to visit a project working to introduce wolves to the area.
Our intention is to bring new income and impetus to isolated mountain regions – without overwhelming them! Our guests enjoy learning about the environment and culture, and the locals benefit both economically, and from the knowledge that their way of life is valued.
In the village of Decontra, where many of our guests stay, there are no shops, but the community is visited regularly by mobile vendors, who ensure that the locals never run out of provisions. Our Managers support these vendors by buying fresh bread, fruit and vegetables, and locally produced cheeses and cured meats from them. In spring and autumn, and during the week, business is quiet for Decontra’s tiny village restaurant, so the presence of our visitors all through the week from May to October generates valuable custom, ensuring that it remains a thriving business to the benefit of all, including local food suppliers and restaurant staff living in the village.
All our car hire is “carbon-offset”: We offset approximately double the estimated CO2 emissions through a a scheme in place with the Carbon Neutral Company. Our brochure production and distribution is also carbon compensated through a similar scheme, and we offer all our clients the opportunity to offset the carbon emissions caused by their flights too. We encourage and arrange train travel and provide details on how this holiday can be reached by train, thereby avoiding flying altogether. Our brochure and all other literature and correspondence uses recycled paper, and we operate a rigorous recycling and energy saving policy both at our UK office and all our destinations, as well as encouraging our local suppliers to do the same.
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!
