Environmentally friendly tourism
Sustainability and green issues are now very much mainstream, with governments, businesses and individuals all involved. Tourism, as one of the main economic drivers in the UK, has its part to play. That is where the Green Tourism Business Scheme (GTBS) comes in.
The GTBS is the leading sustainable tourism certification scheme in the UK, with over 1400 members. Businesses opting to join are assessed by a qualified grading advisor against a rigorous set of criteria, covering a range of areas, like energy and water efficiency, waste management, biodiversity and more.
We
joined the
Green Tourism Business Scheme in 2007 and were delighted to be
given a Silver award.
Click to read our Green Policy.
Part of the criteria for the scheme is to support the community by having a donation box, or making an annual contribution. Steve and I (Vicki) have chosen two local charities, the first of which is Treetops Hospice at Risley, near Derby.
There are several reasons for this … I worked there when we lived in Trowell, near Nottingham, doing a bit of relief nursing, and later as a volunteer. When we moved to Derbyshire, I carried on, even though it’s almost a 60 mile round trip. I see it as my day off from my day job of all that comes with running holiday cottages I’ve now been there for just over 16 years, and love my Thursday’s helping in Daycare, with guests (patients) who have Multiple Sclerosis. Another reason is that Steve’s family needed the services of Treetops Hospice when his dad was cared for by the Hospice at Home nurses some years ago. The hospice supports and cares for patients with life-limiting illnesses such as multiple sclerosis, cancer and heart disease.
As well as helping at the Hospice, we have a collection box in the Games Room, and each year we donate a holiday in The Stables as a prize for the Treetops Hospice Annual Raffle.
It’s a very exciting year for Treetops this year, as they are trying to raise £2.5 million to enable it to treat hundreds more patients by building a much-needed new Care Centre. One of this year’s events is a Late Summer Ball where, amongst other things, an auction will take place. We have donated a week in The Stables for this.
Our second community charity organisation is the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust … when we first moved to Holestone Moor (May 1998) we were quickly aware that there is an abundance of wildlife here, and so we joined the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust because it covers all sorts of wildlife, rather than specific organisations. We get regular magazines about wildlife in Derbyshire, as well as from the wider organisation – the whole of Britain. The magazines can be found in your cottage.
Use the link below to find a very comprehensive list of Derbyshire wildlife – mammals, birds, invertebrates, amphibians & reptiles, trees, shrubs & hedges, wildflowers & other plants. We haven’t seen all of those listed… but you might! Wildlife list.
Most of the wildlife is just ‘here’, but we do actively help some of it along. For instance, we have a ‘Feeding station’ for birds in the courtyard, and another at the back of our house. We try to keep 3 different types of feeders filled with peanuts, corn and thistle/niger seeds all year round.
We don’t put up nesting boxes, as we have plenty of trees, and open sheds (on the farm) where birds can nest. It’s obvious that they do nest round here, because parent birds bring their fledglings to feed near both lots of feeding stations.
We have almost 6 acres of land for you to explore, about half of it laid out to woodland, which we planted in October 1989. Shortly after we moved to Holestone Moor in 1998 we paid for an ecological survey of our land, before commencing tree planting/meadow etc., so we have a mixture of trees suitable for our area and height above sea level (almost 1000 feet). There is also a meadow and wildlife pond plus a grassed area for play, picnics and barbecues. Although there are lots of wildflowers in the different areas, we have ‘helped’ by planting fritillary, snowdrops and English bluebells. All have been bought from specialist nurseries and not ‘stolen’ from the wild.
As well as the wildlife we have all around the Barns we keep chickens - our chickens are free-range, and so we're supporting the Chicken Out campaign by only buying free range chicken from our local supermarkets. You can join us by clicking the logo above and supporting the campaign.
We hope that you will come and stay, and enjoy our varied wildlife for yourself.
Lots of guests to Holestone Moor Barns holiday cottages live in the Derbyshire area, and if you would like to help us support either of our chosen charities, have a look at the Treetops website or the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust.
Or to donate to Treetops without spending any of your own money, go to the Treetops website where you can use the Ask search box to search the Internet If you go to one of the websites brought up by the search, Treetops receives a share of the revenue from the advertising.
Vicki & Steve