12 Steps to a Sustainable Holiday

Our mission is to provide our guests with an eco-friendly holiday, without sacrificing comfort.

Please bear with me as I update the 12 steps we have taken to ensure we minimise any negative impacts on the environment.

1. Electricity Tariff

In November 2023, we switched energy suppliers to Octopus Energy, who are one of Europe's largest investors in renewable power.

They are transparent about all their operational procedures (from man power to generating power) and have won several important awards within their industry.

You can read more about them here (takes you to an external site)

✅ As of April 2024, we had saved 77kg of CO2 emissions, which is as much as 39 trees absorb in a year!

✅ By November 2024, we have saved 425Kg of CO2 emissions.

2. Energy Consumption

✅ All our lightbulbs are low-energy, LED light bulbs

✅ Our external lighting is either solar powered, or motion sensor

✅ We check before buying, that appliances we have provided are as energy efficient as possible. Our shower, dishwasher and washing machine all have 'eco' settings, should you wish to help us save water and energy.

✅The appliances are checked on every changeover and externally PAT tested every year to ensure they are still safe to use and working to optimal efficiency.

✅ Our gas boiler, providing heating and hot water, is part of the Vaillant ecoTec range, and is regularly maintained and serviced to ensure it continues to work in a highly efficient manner.

✅ When we converted the OCH, we insulated the property with ecocork lime plaster. This, combined with our slimline double glazed windows ensures the minimal amount of heat is required to maintain a warm and cosy environment for our guests.

✅ We monitor energy use with regular meter readings and are able to spot unusual surges in power consumption.

6. Product & Supplier Selection

7. Waste & Recycling

8. Green Building Solutions

9. Website & Website Hosting

10. Carbon Footprint

We began collecting the data needed to calculate our carbon footprint in 2023. We send this information across to Carbon Footprint Ltd, who use it to calculate our carbon footprint,

Our baseline reading for 2023-24 was 3 tonnes.

We have lodged our data with the Carbon Data Initiative as a form of accountability and increased transparency. We will then revisit the figures every year in order to ensure we are making effective changes to the way we carry out our business. We are also following their guidelines in order to fully offset our carbon emissions through recognised and approved programmes in our bid to be able to offer fully carbon neutral holidays!

11. Carbon Offsetting

We also chose to officially offset 3 tonnes of carbon dioxide through recognised Gold Standard Cookstoves and Clean Water Community Projects in deprived areas of the world. These carbon offsetting projects have not only all been verified to a Gold Standard for carbon offsetting, but they also provide additional benefits such as biodiversity, education, jobs, food security, clean drinking water and heath & well-being within the communities that they are helping.

In 2024, the projects that we supported were the: Zambia Western Province Safe Water Project; Eritrea Community Boreholes; Up Energy Improved Cookstoves Programme, Uganda – CPA No 002 and African Biomass Energy Conservation Poa Malawi Biomass Conservation

Further information about these projects can be found here (opens in a new window).

12. Communicating our Achievements