Malvern Hills bed and breakfast, England
How this vacation makes a difference
Environment
I am very keen that my b and b business has as little impact on the environment as possible. We encourage guests only to have towels washed when they need to and we alway dry towels and sheets on a washing line to avoid using the tumble dryer. We also use as little packaging as possible in providing our continental breakfast. We make use of bokashi and a very large wormery to recyle our food waste. All plastic, paper and glass is recyled by us.
We provide plenty of books in the b and b which are about the environment, wildlife and the local common and hills. We have local maps to encourage guests to cycle and walk locally. Guests are more than welcome to use our cycles while they are staying with us, to make use of this fantastic cycling area.
For guests arriving by train we can usually arrange pick-up from Malvern, or Ledbury. We are also happy to give our wedding guests a lift to Birtsmorton court which is a 10 minutes drive away, which saves taxis coming from much further a field.
We suggest good local pubs and restaurants for our guests, some of which have lovely walks from the studio to get to them. We leave information out about 'Flavours of Worcestershire and Herefordshire', to encourage guests to experience what the counties have to offer. We have links with other 'green' establishments which we advertise in the studio.
Bird boxes and insect boxes are dotted all over the garden, we provide log and stone piles for insects throughout the garden. We try to take any natural approach to gardening without the use of chemicals whereever possible. Guests are very welcome to relaxing in the garden, in fact one guest spent 5 days with us and never left the studio or garden!
Community
We suggest to our guests local pubs and our local businesses, such as the fruit-farm next door to us. The farmer who lives next door has owned the farm all his life and it has been passed from one generation to the next - he is a Castlemorton farmer with many a yarn to tell. He sells only his own fruit and vegetables in season, which range from cherries, plums, apples, pears and damson to various market garden vegetables. We recommend visiting areas within 20 minutes by car of our property rather than going further a field and keep up to date through the Tourist Information centres and local papers of events happening locally.
One of our main sources of advertising is through the local parish magazines, which encourages locals to use us for friends and family when they want them staying nearby and do not have enough accommodation themselves.
We actively want to promote a 'green approach' to b and b in the local area and will be working alongside Malvern Transition to help the local tourism industry achieve this. We will work to get articles published in the local papers on the benefits of a 'green' approach to the b and b business.
We are volunteer puppy walkers and aim to promote to other the benefits of volunteering for Guide Dogs. We get enormous satisfaction in seeing our ex- puppies becoming working Guide Dogs and the incredible role they play in the fulfilment of life for blind and partially sighted people.
Terry is the Treasurer of a local Scout pack which our son attends. Our two children attend the local primary and secondary school, traveling to school on a school bus every day. We fully appreciate the benefits of local schools within the community for the benefit of all.
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