our commitment
to sustainability
We are passionate about the environment and we know an increasing number of you are too. Sustainability has rightly become a firm fixture in many people’s minds when thinking about their holidays, with climate change among the top traveller concerns along with biodiversity and waste and plastic pollution.
We want you to know where we stand and what we are doing to support this.
Matthew has lived at Brackenthwaite in the Arnside & Silverdale AONB all his life. He is acutely aware of how we can impact on nature and the countryside and together with Harry they are keen to do everything they can to ensure that their business operates with as small a detrimental impact on the natural world as possible, while also creating the maximum positive impact they can too.
As Matthew says, “Holidaying with us shouldn’t cost the Earth.”
What we are doing
Here’s what we’re doing at Brackenthwaite to honour our commitment to the environment we are lucky enough to live and work in…
We are working with DEFRA and their Agricultural Transition Plan, specifically their Farming in Protected Landscapes programme, to transform 5 of our 9 acres of grazing land into woodland and natural wildflower areas.
We will be adding plants that are suited to a wide array of life and in particular some local endangered species, including butterflies and insects.
We are looking to add a pond to encourage more wildlife onto our land. Ponds are fantastic habitats for a wide range of wildlife, including toads, frogs, newts, insects and birds because they provide excellent sources of food and water, as well as being a home or breeding ground for the local wildlife to utilise.
We have about 5,000 of the friendliest and finest bees ready to work their magic.
The plan is to create scrapes during our woodland and wildflower addition.
Scrapes are shallow depressions with gently sloping edges, which seasonally hold water. They create obvious in-field wet features that are very attractive to wildlife. They support a wide variety of invertebrates and can provide important feeding areas for breeding wading birds and their chicks. Resource
We have solar panels onsite which provide electricity for The Coach House and Corner Cottage. Our goal is to be able to generate all our own electricity and offer a completely ‘off-grid’ experience.
We created a small orchard of fruit trees that will allow us to contribute foodstuffs during harvest time.
Like capturing the sun’s energy to create electricity, we have designs on capturing rainwater to decrease the amount of water we need to take from the water mains (but don’t worry, we’re not intending for you to drink it!)
We are undertaking extensive upgrade works on existing buildings to improve our energy efficiency.
We have plans to transition onto a fully self-sustaining and renewable energy provision.
All holiday properties are set up to make recycling easy and as little waste as possible gets sent to landfill.
We have a large compost on site that provides us with high quality composting for our extensive gardens.
Increasingly, the cleaning and hospitality products we use are recognised as being environmental, ethical, and sustainable.
