South Downs holiday cottages, England

Planet

All the cottages have a recycling waste bin which takes paper and plastic. We provide bio D washing-up liquid. The soaps and shower gels and washing-up liquid are provided in refillable bottles, thereby saving waste. Our guests expect a high standard of cleanliness. Orchard Cottage has a food waste digester which takes vegetable peelings and waste food.

We provide local honey and home-made jams made with fruit from our trees (if we get a good crop!). We have replanted fruit trees on the walls in the walled garden and maintain an old orchard. We grow apples, pears, plums, grapes, peaches, apricots. We also grow raspberries, strawberries, gooseberries and blackberries.

Areas of our farm are in the higher-level stewardship scheme and have wide field margins to benefit wildlife. We get all the wildlife you would expect to see in open fields connecting to the downs and various woodlands. There are ducks on the pond, birds, rabbits and our wildflower garden attracts and enhances the butterflies.

Our Moatside cottages are heated by a heat pump which takes energy from the nearby field. By using under floor heating, we ensure that the heat is provided where it is needed and each room has its own thermostat. The cottages are well insulated, thereby ensuring less energy is used. Orchard Cottage is heated by an Air Source Hear Pump. We do not have solar panels on the buildings because they would look out of place on traditional buildings - but our Moatside Cottages are supplied from a field-based solar array, backed up by the grid to ensure continuous supply.

All the cottages are conversions of existing redundant buildings that were part of the farm; a potting shed stable and carpenters shed.

People

Our village is very small, and the community is rather a collection of smaller villages. We provide details of local pubs, such as the Royal Oak which is about a mile away in Poynings and the Ginger Fox in Holborn. We recommend that people use Rushfields Farm Shop and have information about local attractions. People often come here to visit Brighton, as it is only a 20 minute drive and has everything you might want or need.

Other places of interest in the area are Lewes Castle, Steyning museum, Charleston, Firle Place , Middle Farm, Borde Hill Gardens, Leonardslee Gardens Wakehurst Place, Glyndebourne and many more. There is plenty to do all a short drive away.

If we are fully booked ourselves, if asked, we provide details of others who may be able to help.

Newtimber place is a moated house not far from the cottages. The gardens at Newtimber Place are open (at least) twice a year for charity; we donate the tea rooms for people to hold their various charity events for various causes. The village also part of National Gardens Scheme, where gardens are opened up to raise money for charity. We are often raising money to support the local church which is a Grade 2 listed building, as the village has so few people to help to maintain it.