Lake District family activity vacation

Planet

Our activity center on the Lake District family activity vacation is located at the head of the stunningly beautiful Borrowdale Valley in the Lake District National Park. The center offers a large range of outdoor activities and is operated in an environmentally responsible and community-friendly manner. The Centre’s management prides itself on employing local people on long-term contracts, allowing staff to stay resident in this beautiful area. All of the center’s instructors and staff are briefed on responsible travel and use of the environment, in turn passing on this message to the many customers.

The center uses only produce provided by local suppliers, thus providing only the freshest produce for its customers whilst supporting the local economy. The center has an active recycling programme, which all staff and customers are briefed in and encouraged to use. Each year the staff monitor the center’s energy consumption and investments are made in new energy-saving appliances and procedures. The ideal location in the heart of Borrowdale means that use of transport for activities can be kept to a minimum. If transport is needed local companies are used to help boost the local economy.

The center on our Lake District family activity vacation works closely with the National Trust, the National Park Authority, the local community and other nearby outdoor centers to ensure that the local area and activity sites are managed thoughtfully, with any environmental impact kept to a minimum. The center is also a key member of the Borrowdale User Group (BUG), through which they assist in reporting and informing other users about any areas of concern and implement plans to deal with any current or potential problems.

Our accommodation is situated in a superbly rural location but only 20 minutes drive from the market town of Keswick. The hotel adopts a sound environmental policy. In order to cut down on plastic containers being used and liquids, the hotel now uses concentrated chemicals and has reusable containers for these.

The amount of full linen changes on stayovers has been reduced to cut down on laundry and kitchen aprons, clothes and restaurant serving clothes are washed in-house. Guests are asked to place towels in the bath if they require them to be changed otherwise they would be placed back on the towel rail to be re-used. If a bedroom is for single occupancy we always use a twin room (2 single beds so only 1 bed will be used instead of a double bed) and make sure only one set of towels are in the room.

The hotel has invested in a compressor for cardboard boxes which are then sent away to the council for recycling and all paper is put into a recycle bin in reception which is then transferred to the outside large recycling bin. There are 3 bottle bins which all bottles from the bar and restaurant are put into each day. All printer cartridges are kept and sent back to the supplier to be recycled. When ordering copier paper we always use recycled. The night porter turns all lights and lamps off in public areas once the guests have gone to bed and then turns them back on at 7am. Housekeeping turn lights and TVs off in rooms once they are serviced. Radiators are checked in warmer months to ensure they are turned off. The heating times are reduced in warmer months.

People

Our activity center is operated in a community-friendly manner. The Centre’s management prides itself on employing local people on long-term contracts, allowing staff to stay resident in this beautiful area.

The center uses only produce provided by local suppliers, thus providing only the freshest produce for its customers whilst supporting the local economy. The ideal location in the heart of Borrowdale means that use of transport for activities can be kept to a minimum. If transport is needed local companies are used to help boost the local economy.

The hotel endeavours to employ local people wherever possible but admit that it is difficult to attract residents into lower-paid jobs such as waiting and kitchen portering. Nevertheless, job vacancies are always advertised in local papers and the local job center first, if no suitable employee is found then the hotel broadens the advertising.

The hotel strives to support local businesses by using only local tradesmen for any building and maintenance issues. All the food is supplied from the northwest and the head chef endeavours to use local ingredients where possible.