AWARDS & RATINGS

We classify as a "Guest House" and have four stars, they have recently changed from diamonds, which is just about as high as we can go without moving to a different house with bigger rooms. Click on the logo to go to the Visit britain website for more information on the ratings system.

We have this award because we try to use only local produce from local suppliers. Click on the logo for more info.

We are delighted to announce that we have recently gained our Environmental Award.

This was achieved by proving that we really are making our effort to be “green”.

We recycle everything we can, from bottles, plastic bottles, paper, cans, foil, printer cartridges, spectacles, directories, clothes etc and of course we have compost bins. Naturally we have water butts.

We only have one car and try to use this as little as possible and I do do the bulk of my shopping locally and on foot and save up trips to the cash and carry and larger towns so that I can do everything in one trip, maybe once a month. The only downside to this is that, because the car is also being used to transport guests to walking points or evening functions, it is a (fairly posh) Land Rover. However we feel that, being as the Land Rover is the smallest 7 seater that we could find and that we don't use the car that much anyway, it is better for us to have just the one car rather than having two.

We have replaced as many light bulbs with low energy bulbs as we believe to be feasible without compromising safety and convenience.

We use recycled bio-degradable bin liners and monitor how much rubbish goes in the bin.

I actively campaign against carrier bags at supermarkets. I have a collection of “bags for life” and regularly give friends luxury “bags for life “ as presents.

I try to buy goods from local conservation farmers. Currently we buy some meat from Jacksons in the Wash (a local hamlet, not the watery bit on the east coast) and honey from Longnor. I am researching other suppliers.

I use Ecover products as much as possible and tend to buy them in bulk, over the Internet, to try to minimise wastage and transport costs.

To try to minimise unnecessary heating we have fitted thermostatic valves on all the radiators and in winter I close all the curtains as it gets dark.

If you can think of anything else we should do, please let me know. We may already be doing it, but if we are not, perhaps we should!