Very Exciting News!!
We have won the Tourism South East 2009
Gold Winner - Sustainable Tourism Award
Highly Commended - Small Hotel / Townhouse of the Year
2009 Conde Nast Innovation in Sustainable Hospitality Award
&
Hampshire & Isle of Wight Sustainable Business Award
  
Also we were short listed for -
The New Forest Brilliance in Business Award for Best Use of Local Resources
We have at last finished installing our heat exchange unit (won’t bore you with all the details but it is fitted in the base of the river, somehow extracts the energy and pumps it into our existing central heating and hot water system-very green!!) it has been an absolute nightmare - had I known what was involved I would never have had it installed in the Winter! – but after loads of trials, tribulations and tears its all working now- so, we have all our hot water and heating for free!! Sounds great, but it will be a while for me to be really enthusiastic about it!!
For the last 4 years we have been working closely with Southampton University to reinstate the wheel in the river to create our own electricity.
New Forest Food Challenge
We are part of the New Forest 'eat local, grow local’ campaign - planting our fruit trees on the 5th of December as part of the
Guinness world Record attempt!!
newforesttransition.ning.com
We have been lucky enough to get part funding from the New Forest National Park Authority's Sustainable Development Fund but we still have a long way to go. The work is all going slower than expected all to do with planning and environmental issues, some additional tests by the River Authorities as they are concerned about the effects of the Wheel on the Smalts (baby fish) - but work is in progress, final designs are in place, so we just have to be patient!
We have also installed 'Hippo' bags in all the loos to reduce water consumption and almost all the lights are energy efficient bulbs.
We have even commissioned recycled sculptures from Michael Turner for all our tables. They are absolutely gorgeous - mayflies, dragonflies, lilies and fish and are made from knives, forks, sieves etc.
Local and Organic
All of us are very proud of the fact that we make everything here ourselves, including bread, soups, sauces, ice creams and puddings.
We are determined to source, as much as possible, local and organic produce - from vegetables, free range eggs, cheese, new forest seasonal venison and pork. Karl and David our head chefs have been really suprised to find out how much good produce we can buy in the surrounding area and are continuing to add to the list of local suppliers.
The planting of our herb garden and green house (to provide all our summer needs for tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, chillies and herbs) is almost complete.
We have been awarded the New Forest Marque – which is a recognition to show our commitment to local produce and doing our bit for the environment.
The flour for our brown bread is produced by Eling Tide Mill one of the only tide mills in the world producing flour New Forest Marque daily in a 900 year old tradition - Click here to find out more.
Beautiful pictures taken in our garden by Fergus Cowhig
 
  
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