What makes a stay with us a green holiday
If you’re looking for a holiday with a low environmental impact, we’re here to help
We’re an award winning Gold Member of the Green Tourism Business Scheme and a Surfers Against Sewage Plastic Free Champion. You can read the full how and why of our Green Story by clicking here.
Our Responsible Visitor Charter contains tips for making your holiday a green one.
Energy & Water
All heating and hot water is generated by a biomass boiler in a carbon neutral district heating system, supported by additional solar thermal tubes. Electricity for this system and all the needs of our house and the cottages is provided by a 4kWh 22 panel solar photo-voltaic array alongside electricity from the grid sourced on a 100% renewable energy tariff.
We are not on mains water or sewerage. Our supply is spring fed, with the water being treated on site before entering the cottages. All waste water is treated through a reed bed filtration system before being discharged into groundwater.
Sustainable Purchasing
To find our way through green washing and identify businesses and people making real efforts to offer genuinely sustainable options, we follow four principles:
- do we need to buy, or can we reduce, refuse, repair or re-use;
- be socially responsible;
- be guided by organisations such as Ethical Consumer
- balance supporting a local or British independent business but buying a less sustainable product against buying online but the most sustainable product we can afford.
This is how we ensure everything from teabags to towels, from the meat in the pies to the pillow you sleep on, is procured as sustainably as possible.
Waste Minimisation
We have full recycling and food composting facilities on site, but prefer to start with Repair, Refuse, Reduce or Re-use, and only then do we get to Recycle. Our Surfers Against Sewage Plastic Free Champion award recognizes our commitment to refusing single use plastics.
We collect your corks, beer bottle tops and crisp packets. We give you re-usable cleaning cloths, storage containers, silicone food covers, shopping bags and water bottles. We wrap your welcome goodies in recycled paper bags sealed with recycled paper tape. We pop your dog’s home made treats in a little tin.
Social Responsibility
We try to tread lightly on the earth and help you to do the same. We use our consumer purchasing power to boycott Amazon, HSBC and similar corporate brands in favour of smaller, more ethical businesses.
Our Banceithin Bible guides you towards independent shops, eateries and activity providers to support during your stay, places to encounter Welsh culture, where to enjoy Ceredigion like a local.
We support charities that share our beliefs, selling RSPB badges, collecting stamps for the British Hedgehog Preservation Society and twinning toilets in aid of Tear Fund. We believe in food without cruelty, factory farms or caged animals; for every booking we donate £1 to support Compassion in World Farming.
Biodiversity & Environmental Impact
We believe protection of wildlife and our surrounding environment is vital to the future of us all. We aim to minimise our impact on the environment, but want to share our enjoyment of the biodiversity of our home. We planted native trees, fruit trees and shrubs, and created wild and cut flower patches and ponds, put up nest boxes and retained acres of grassland as habitat to enhance the existing eco-system. Alongside this we encourage guests to explore what we have through boardwalks, treehouses, fire pit, nature guides, binoculars and, for children, a box of ideas for a nature adventure.
Transport
Sadly, buses are an almost extinct species in rural West Wales. We can’t encourage you to ditch the car, but provide Day Trip suggestions to minimize your miles and make the most of every car journey. We can encourage you to use bikes though – a socket is available in our Storeroom for free charging of electric bikes and bike hire is available through Bike Bike Bike in Cardigan.
We don’t yet have an EV charging point on site, but even in our rural area the network has improved significantly in the past two years; use our post code SY23 5NP on Zero Carbon World and Zap Map to find our nearest points.
