Environmental, Sustainability & Social Policy

We are aware of the importance of environmental sustainability and we are continuously seeking to improve our environmental and social performance.

To enable us to reduce the effect of our carbon footprint, we have implemented a programme of ongoing action, which we invite all our guests to also be a part of.

P.V System

We have installed a comprehensive P.V System including 11.7 KW Solar Panels with battery storage, electric car charging point and an electric immersion heater. This has reduced our carbon footprint by significantly. We use a 100% green energy supplier for any electric and gas purchased.

Transport

We are ideally situated close to public transport links which provide regular bus and train services to Exmouth, Exeter and further afield. We often help guests to plan their journeys accessing timetables on-line. Indeed many of our guests leave the car parked during their entire stay with us and take advantage of our good public transport links.

We are located on the SW Footpath and Exe Estuary Cycle Route and many places are within easy walking or cycling distance. Many of our guests enjoy taking advantage of this and walk or cycle during their stay with us rather than using the car. Local bike hire is available and we have a covered storage area for guests who bring or hire bikes during their stay with us.

We have four pubs within easy walking distance and actively encourage guests to enjoy walking through the village to enjoy a local dining experience. We have umbrellas available for guests who choose to walk to one of our many local pubs for those times when the weather is not so kind!

We have maps and guidebooks available for guests’ use.

Bedding & Towels

Our Bed Linen Policy

Beds are changed as standard every four nights. If you require anything changing before then, just let us know. This reduces water and electricity consumption. However, we will always ask if you require your bed changing during your stay or if you’d prefer that we didn’t change either your bed or towels. We give guests the choice of whether they would like bed linen changed during longer stays. To save on transportation we do our laundry in-house.

Our Towel Policy

Towels are not replaced daily unless requested by guests or are left on the floor. Towels are replaced as standard, along with bedding every four nights.

We have purchased sufficient linen and towels to ensure that we only ever do a full load of laundry saving both water and energy.

We dry laundry on the line or drying rack as much as possible to save energy and as far as possible only use the tumble dryer when we are self-generating.

We use low-temperature laundry technology to reduce both water and energy consumption.

We use cleaning cloths rather than disposable wipes which we then launder and re-use.

Curtains

All our curtains are lined for their thermal qualities but are also blackout to block out the sun on warmer days to help keep rooms cool and avoid the need to use electric fans.

Local Economy

We use local tradespeople as far as possible.

As far as possible we use local suppliers not only to support the local community but to reduce delivery mileage and packaging.

We pay supplier invoices on receipt knowing that cash flow is important to small businesses.

We encourage guests to spend their money locally to sustain the local economy actively promoting local attractions, pubs and restaurants.

Literature from local attractions/ restaurants/ taxi companies are displayed and on our website as well as regular social media links.

We support local events and charities by attending them, actively promoting them to our guests and we are happy to provide raffle prizes.

We support local businesses including pubs/cafes/restaurants and local attractions ourselves.

Water:

We have smaller kettles in our guests rooms so they only boil required water.

We have a boliing water tap fitted in the kitchen to save on water use and energy.

Only one bedroom has a bath to reduce water usage.

Rain water is collected to water plants.

All toilet cisterns have dual flush to reduce water use.

Dishwasher and washing machine are used on the shortest cycle for the task and are A+++ rated. Both are only ever used with a full load to reduce use of both water and energy.

Food

We source as much of our food as possible locally to reduce food miles and packaging. This also supports the local economy and small businesses. We use re-usable bags and avoid purchasing any produce wrapped in plastic.

Many food items are homemade and we re-use storage jars for marmalade, preserves etc.

Food is carefully purchased daily and cooked to order to minimise waste and the amount of refrigeration need.

We take breakfast orders the night before so we only cook what guests want. We take toast orders to avoid bread wastage. We keep bread in the fridge and GF bread in the freezer to avoid waste. We turn any leftover bread into breadcrumbs to use in our own cooking. We use up any over-ripe fruit in smoothies to avoid waste.

Most un-used or leftover food is eaten by us.

Food scraps are recycled and collected by the local Council.

Cooking oil is disposed of in a sustainable way and turned into biodiesel.

We store food in re-usable tubs or use beeswax wraps avoiding the need for disposable cling wrap.

Utilities

We have fitted the latest LED technology light bulbs to reduce energy consumption.

Many lights, including external lights, are on timers or sensors.

We have a new energy efficient boiler

All radiators have thermostatic controls and we only heat bedrooms and rooms when in use.

All electrical items are A rated or above.

We turn off all appliances when not in use rather than leave on stand-by to reduce energy consumption.

Double glazing is fitted throughout.

Recycling & Reducing Single Use Plastic

We do our laundry in house using eco friendly laundry detergent. We only wash full loads and use a lower temperature setting. We line dry as much as possible to reduce tumble dryer use.

We have separate internal and external bins for separating recycling. We provide re-cycling baskets in guests rooms for guests to separate out items which can be re-cycled.

We re-cycle glass, card, paper, plastics, foil, food waste and garden waste.

We supply filtered water in glass bottles in guests’ rooms to reduce single use plastic bottles.

We re-fill guests’ own water bottles to avoid the need to purchase single-use plastic water bottles.

We provide plastic glasses in guests’ bathrooms which are re-useable.

We provide glasses and cups in bedrooms to reduce use of single use cups.

We provide fresh milk to guests to reduce plastic waste from UHT milk.

Our egg trays are returned to Liverton Farm for re-use.

Empty coffee pods are recycled via Nespresso’s recycling scheme.

We use re-fillable toiletries reducing the use of single use plastics.

Empty bottles are re-cycled at the end of their life.

We partner with CleanConscience to recycle partly used soap, reducing the amount of waste we send to landfill and at the same time contributing to social and economic improvement.

We use email to confirm reservations where possible to reduce paper.

We print double-sided where we can and use recycled ink cartridges.

Printed waste paper is utilised on the other side for notepaper.

Magazines and marketing material are recycled.

We have used oil free paints throughout.

We encourage guests to help us to reduce our carbon footprint.

We use small pots on the breakfast table for preserves, marmalade and butter to avoid using single use packs.

We have an EV charging point installed available for guests’ use.

Wildlife

We are creating a wildlife habitat for our guests to enjoy. We have planted over 1000 native hedgerow trees, created a small copse area, established a small orchard, created a wildlife pond and sown over an acre of wildflower meadow to attract wildlife and bees.

How Guests can help/participate

Arrive by public transport, use public transport or walk/cycle whilst staying with us.

We don’t need to see confirmation emails so don’t worry about printing them off.

Turn off taps when brushing teeth.

Use the short flush facility on toilets.

Re-use towels rather than ask for them to be replaced or washed daily.

Keep showers to 4 minutes or less to reduce water usage.

Turn radiator thermostats down slightly.

Put a jumper on rather than turning the heating up.

Turn lights and TV off when leaving your room.

Only boil amount of water you need for a hot drink.

Separate recycling from general rubbish and use recycling basket provided.

Environmental, Sustainability & Social Policy revised March 2023