Telephone 01386 858148
ENVIRONMENTAL POLICIES
At Cowley House, we strive continuously to ensure that, as far as possible, we consider the impact of what we do on our environment and that we have as little waste as possible. We have joined the Green Tourism Business Scheme reflecting our dedication to sustainability and eco-tourism in Worcestershire and the Cotswolds.
We are committed to working in a sustainable way and take care to reduce, re-use and recycle at all times. We are undertaking the following actions in order to achieve this and have also listed below how we strive to reduce our waste, pollution, carbon impact and environmental impact.
We comply with the requirements of environmental legislation and approved codes of practice.
We continuously seek to improve our environmental and social performance.
We raise awareness and encourage participation in sustainable business practices.
We liaise with the local community and are actively involved in local trade associations and events.
We aim to use local labour for building and ongoing maintenance of our buildings and gardens.
Reduce
Our aim is to reduce the amount of waste we throw away and recycle as much as possible.
- We purchase items without packaging or in packaging as free of toxics wherever practicable. At supermarket checkouts, you may find Joan holding up the queue while she removes excess packaging and leaves it at the till!!
- Whenever possible shopping is purchased on foot or delivered as a part of a delivery round (lowering food miles). We use the best and freshest local produce available to create a wonderful breakfast that will enable you to start your day in the best way possible. Our suppliers include: Collins Family Butchers for home made sausages; Buckland nurseries for tomatoes; Wayside Farm Shop for fruit, mushrooms and muesli; the Kitchen Garden, Stroud for preserves and local farms for organic free range eggs ( they grow their own chicken feed, pack the eggs and distribute the eggs from their own farm).Cowley House orchard provides for apples plums and pears (in season) and herbs from our herb garden (follow your nose and have a look in the garden)
- The majority of our windows are double glazed. We have replaced single glazed windows in 4 rooms to-date and other rooms(except Grappenhall and Appleton) have secondary glazing. Curtains have thermal lining which has a better thermal efficiency reducing heat loss.
- The majority of our and walls and loft areas insulated. During the refurbishments in the winter of 2010 we put in false wall panels on the outside walls, lined with thermal blocks, in Daresbury, Selborne and walton.
- All radiators (where possible/practicable) have thermostatic valves fitted to help minimise energy use.
- The central heating is on a ‘timer’ so that it is ‘on’ when we expect guests to be in the guest house and ‘off’ at other times. I really do not like to be cold, so we will always put on the heating, if requested.
- Our hot water cylinders are pre-insulated with foam.
- As the bedrooms in Cowley House are renovated, the bathrooms were fitted with en-suite showers to save water. The only exception to this is the Appleton and Stretton rooms which still have baths for those guests who prefer them.
- We are fitting low energy bulbs wherever practicable (reducing our carbon impact).
The water and central heating is provided be energy efficient boilers, replaced in Spring 2010and are energy-saving condensing boilers which should cut our heating and hot water bills by between 15-20% and should be up to 30% cheaper to run than the old boilers.
- We launder napkins, pillowcases, hand towels, bath robes and duvet covers on site and use the outside rotary cloths dryer rather than the tumble dryer whenever possible.
- We replace electrical appliances with ‘A’ rated or higher appliances and aim to purchase durable long-lasting goods.
- We turn off electrical appliances rather than leave them on stand-by and encourage our guests to do the same.
- We used to provide individual containers of body lotion and pretty packets of soap but we had so much waste – both packaging and half-used toiletries – that we decided to adopt a different policy. We now supply our guests with a much more expensive product, in dispensers by the basin. This enables each guest to use as much as s/he would like whilst eliminating packaging and waste entirely. We will still provide individual soaps on request.
Reuse
- We re-use carrier bags for shopping or use biodegradable jute bags.
- Egg cartons are reused whenever practicable.
- We re-use paper whenever possible. Paper is shredded and either added to the compost heaps or used by friends as animal bedding. We are planning to convert newspapers into briquettes for the fire this winter.
- We aim to use as much recycled and local materials as much as possible in our renovation projects
Recycle
- We aim to recycle as much refuse as possible and request that guests assist us by placing non recyclable waste in the bin in the bathroom. We sort out rubbish from the bedroom bin into separate recyclable containers for recycling and use the fortnightly local recycling service for all that can be recycled: plastics, cans, glass, paper, card and magazines.
- All garden and organic kitchen waste can be recycled and waste contributes to one of Peter’s 4 (yes 4!) compost heaps.
- We recycle used stamps for the RNIB supporting blind and partially blind people (Joan’s mum was partially sighted).
- We aim to recycle as much waste from building projects as possible. Cotswold stone from the doorway between the family suite rooms is currently piled in the garden ready to be used in landscaping, the old boiler and water tanks have been recycled and wood is burnt in the fire in winter.
We are constantly looking at new ways to make more impact in these area so if you have any suggestions about how we can make a difference, please let us know. We would be delighted to consider any new proposal.
Green Tourism business scheme
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Joan and Peter Reading, Cowley House, Church Street, Broadway, Worcestershire WR12 7AE
Tel +44 (0) 1386 858148 Email
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