About our Green credentials

Taking care of the environment ...

We've applied to be assessed and accredited by the Green Tourism Business Scheme, and are presently awaiting our turn... one day all businesses will do things this way, I'm sure.

We're committed to conducting our life and our business in a way which gives our kids' kids a chance of having something left to enjoy... So without being fanatical, we're trying to do the sensible things which help to save the world.

This was uppermost in our minds during the refurbishment of St Cuthbert's House. So we've used modern building materials to seriously insulate the building. We've fitted a highly efficient condensing boiler - and lament the fact that our desire to use a ground source heat pump was thwarted! We've fitted thermostatic valves to all the radiators, and fitted cast-iron 'lookalikes' to replace the old ones (we couldn't rescue them...).

New windows have been fitted, where planners agreed, with double or triple-glazing in traditional sash windows, complete with lead weights. On the front of the building, where we wanted to refurbish and repair the original windows, we're in the process of fitting secondary double-glazed panels to minimise heat loss - although those full-length windows are proving to be a challenge!

We need a lot of lights, and so we've been careful to use low-energy mains-voltage units everywhere we can. So if you need to allow your bathroom lights to 'warm up' for a minute or two before they reach full brilliance, we hope you'll agree that it's a price worth paying!

We've chosen solid wooden furniture for the bedrooms, built by actual men in a joiners shop in England (rather than by robots in a factory-plex on the other side of the world.) They use good quality timber from sustainable forests.

We're using eco-friendly toiletries around the house, made using natural ingredients from ethical, sustainable sources, using minimal packaging. And it smells nice too.

We're using eco-friendly cleaning materials in the house. And of course, we separate all our rubbish that can be recycled. Most of it goes in the blue bin, but we still need to take the glass to the bottle bank. We try to minimise the amount of detergent we use, and only use the washing machine and dishwasher when we have a full load. If you leave your towels in the bath or shower tray, we'll change them - but if you leave them on the towel rail, that's your way of saying 'I'll use these again'.

Our food and other supplies are bought locally where that's practical, and if we can't do that then we're on the lookout for fair-trade or organic alternatives. We've been motivated in this by the experience of our friend and his fruit farm...ask us to tell you the story when you come.

We all have busy lives to lead, but we're always on the lookout for little things which can make a big difference when we apply them collectively. If you have any great ideas, or you see something we could do better, we'd love to hear about it.