Scottish Highlands luxury accommodation
How this vacation makes a difference
Environment
We have just been shortlisted for a Goldstar Award from the Green Business Tourism Business Scheme as one of the highest achievers in 2011. We have a Gold Green Award from this organisation and do all we can to offer a memorable vacation with a minimal impact. In 2011 we won the 'Best Sustainable Tourism Exemplar' from the Highlands and Islands Tourism Awards. We now burn no fossil fuels using a wood boiler and an array of solar panels and produce most of our own electricity from a wind turbine. The rest we get from Green Energy. We offer our guest the opportunity to join us in our commitment and to reuse and recycle. The house and cottage are very well insulated and achieve considerable solar gain.
We encourage everyone to eat local food (are active in Slow Food and other local food initiatives), can provide much home produce including meat and, in season, veg. and soft fruit grown using organic principles and or recommend other local producers (fantastic flavours, no food miles and minimal packaging).
We employ 3 local part time staff member and others locally on a casual basis and use tradesmen from our own village as far as possible. We encourage guests to visit all the local restaurants and craft shops and to enjoy local produce as well as our own and we encourage using public transport whenever feasible.
We try to manage the croft in a way that uses the land productively while protecting and creating habitat diversity and hence a species rich flora and fauna. The croft is dotted with nest boxes and bird feeders and the Spring bluebells give way to amazing numbers of orchids in Summer.
We use Ecover throughout and re-cycled Traidcraft loo paper and tissues, degradable bin liners and Fair-trade tea, coffee and sugar for our guests. Bill goes into schools to grow vegetables and helps run the Youth Club, Sukie teaches cookery in schools is a member of the local Volunteers Group and does the Community Car Scheme (and both, the village Composting site). We are members of the National Trust, the Woodland Trust, the R.S.P.B. the R.N. L.I. and support Traidcraft, Wateraid and Compassion.
We were shortlisted in the Highlands and Islands Green Tourism Awards for 2010.
Community
Bill is currently Chair of the Lochaber Environmental Group, is line manager for the 'Life' project and is daily involved in the running of this organisation on a voluntary basis. We are keen supporters of the local compost site and Bill is a compost 'Champion' encouraging others to compost local waste. We are also currently involved in trialling the compost of food waste from businesses, very important in a rural environment.
Bill goes into schools to grow vegetables and helps run the Youth Club, Sukie teaches cookery in schools is a member of the local Volunteers Group and does the Community Car Scheme (and both, the village Composting site). We are members of the National Trust, the Woodland Trust, the R.S.P.B. the R.N. L.I. and support Traidcraft, Wateraid and Compassion.
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