Gladwins Farm Environmental & Social Responsibility Policy

At Gladwins Farm we believe that tourism and environmental sustainability should go hand in hand. You’ll find this ethos in everything we do, from the way our holiday cottages have been designed and built, through to smaller details such as supplying you with fair trade tea and coffee for your stay and providing energy efficient lighting. So as you enjoy the beautiful Suffolk countryside around us, we ask you to help us continue to protect this wonderful part of the country, by reducing energy use and minimising environmental impact wherever possible.

Reducing our carbon footprint

Reducing our carbon footprint is central to our environmental policy, where we’ve looked at every aspect of our business and identified ways we can lessen our impact. Investing in energy efficient lighting, heating and white goods has helped us cut our energy consumption a great deal, and by using locally sourced food and services wherever possible, we’ve extended our green principles to the wider community, benefitting the local economy as well as the environment.

Our most recent investments include the following:

Solar tracker panels

The installation of 210 solar photovoltaic panels – which produce 50kw, enough to continuously power 25 kettles.

These five Deger 9000NT solar trackers, each measuring 11.5m wide x 6m tall, will track the sun from dawn till dusk. In doing so they will produce up to 40% more energy than the previous system and will ensure that Gladwins Farm can produce all of its own power over the year. These solar trackers are located away from the cottages and will provide an impressive example of cutting edge, environmentally friendly energy generation.

Biomass Boiler

We’re always looking for new ways to help protect the environment – whether on our doorstep or globally – which is why we’ve invested in the installation of a new biomass wood chip boiler. This new system will heat the farm’s cottages as well as our toasty indoor pool, with much of the wood chip material coming from our own grounds. The remainder will be bought in.

Just in case, we’ve also installed an emergency generator – complete with backup LPG gas boiler – which will ensure the whole farm is properly heated in extreme cold or if there is a mechanical problem. Our fossil fuel use for domestic heating and hot water has reduced to almost zero.

Key points behind our green business strategy

We…

  • Comply with environmental legislation and approved codes of practice
  • Participate in the Green Tourism Scheme; we are holders of a Gold Award
  • Produce as much of our own energy as possible from solar, biomass and carbon free sources
  • Continuously seek to improve our environmental and social performance
  • Reduce consumption of energy, water and other resources
  • Expect similar environmental standards from suppliers and contractors
  • Help customers use products and services in an environmentally sensitive way
  • Engage and train our employees to help us maintain our green ethos
  • Source good quality local products and services where possible
  • Provide on-site recycling for waste materials and facilities for the composting of organic kitchen waste through a local service partner
  • Replace ageing white goods with energy-efficient appliances and recycle furniture through our local Red Cross centre
  • Encourage guests’ participation in our sustainable efforts through our website, guest information folders and notice boards.
  • Revisit our Green objectives through regular reappraisals of our Green Action Plan as part of our company briefings.

How to find us

Gladwins Farm

Address:
Harpers Hill,
Nayland Suffolk,
CO6 4NU

Tel: 01206 262261
Fax: +44(0)1206 263 001
Email: contact@gladwinsfarm.co.uk

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Gladwins Map

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