Sustainability Policy

Protecting and nurturing our natural environment is extremely important to us. We care deeply about the world we live in and what we pass on to our children.

 

We wanted to share some of the things we have been doing at Adair to work towards this.

 

Soon after we took over the running of Adair, we planted hedging along the north boundary of the shared garden. We feel so grateful as to how established this now is as it provides lots of habitats for wildlife.

At the end of 2018 we planted a wildflower patch at the bottom of the shared garden running along the bottom boundary of the stream. This is to encourage local wildlife including insects, butterflies, moths, bats and small songbirds. We are hoping to increase the local population of these by creating a natural environment for them.

At the beginning of 2020 we planted an orchard of fruit trees and extended the wildflower patch up and around the trees. It is exciting that we are now getting fruit. Please help yourselves once it is ripe and ready to eat. If when you slightly lift the fruit and very gently twist it, the fruit should come away from the spur easily with the stalk intact, if it is ripe.

 

Please tread lightly around this area so as not to damage any of the wildflowers.

We were fortunate enough to see some wild orchids in the wildflower patch last year so keep a look out!

 

We aim for our welcome packs to be made up of local goods. There are times when there seem to be shortages of certain items however our intention is always for the produce we get for you to be local.

 

The flowers in your bungalow are grown and cared for just along the coast at Perelle. These are locally grown, seasonal flowers that have been grown in a sustainable way using no pesticides and promoting biodiversity.

 

The rubbish from the bungalows is dealt with by Island Waste. They sort the rubbish manually to recycle everything that they can. We just ask that you keep your food waste separate as this goes through an anaerobic digestion process, where micro-organisms break down the food and produce a gas that can be burned to generate heat and electricity or used as vehicle fuel. It also produces a nitrogen-rich fertiliser.  We also ask that you keep any offensive waste separate in the bin provided due the nature of the sorting of the rubbish being a very manual process.

 

We have low energy lighting installed nearly everywhere and you can help by turning off lights, heating and appliances when they are not needed to conserve even more energy.

 

A few years ago we mostly switched cleaning products to bio D which is one of the more sustainable and environmentally friendly cleaning solutions. They are produced in the UK and they use ethically sourced natural ingredients in their products. We are also pleased to say they are vegan and cruelty free and the bottles that the products are in are 100% recycled plastic bottles. Where possible we also refill the bottles so we would be grateful if you could keep these so we can reuse them.

 

Last year we installed bird boxes along with some more insect hotels. We hope this will help to increase the population of both of these in the area.

 

We feel very luckily to be surrounded by this wonderful natural environment so would encourage all our guests to get out and walk or cycle where you can.

 

We have worked with The Soil Farm locally to rejuvenate and diversify the grass. By overseeding with different varieties of grass and mulch mowing, which returns the nutrients to the soil to feed the grass, it reduces the need for synthetic fertilisers.

 

As you may have seen we have planted up the pots with perennial herbs. Please help yourselves to these and make the most of them. This reduces waste from buying and just cutting what you need. It can add lots of flavour to your food. See the list further in the folder of which herbs are which.

 

This year we have made a change to our toilet rolls and kitchen rolls. These are made from bamboo, which produces less carbon emissions than standard toilet tissue. They come to us in a cardboard box, plastic free. There are no chemical nasties in them, instead just plant-based natural ingredients.

 

Our aim is that this will inspire you, as our guests, to make some small changes, as we can all make a difference in the world we live in for the future generations.

 

We very much hope that you will join us to make Adair as environmentally as possible and look forward to updating you with our future improvements as we look to make Adair even more sustainable.

 

Below are some small ways in which you can help:

• Please use water as efficiently as possible during your stay.
• Please don’t leave the tap running when you brushing your teeth.
• Please let us know if you notice any leaks.
• Please switch off your lights when you leave the room.
• Please close windows and doors to conserve heat when it is cold.
• Please only use the heating when it is needed, as well as keeping it as low as is comfortable.
• Maybe you would like to try spending a day of your time with us car free, walking, cycling or taking the bus.

If you have any further ideas for us, we would love to hear them!