Sustainability

We are lucky enough to live in a beautiful part of the world. Here at Arbor Holiday and Knightcote Farm Cottages, in the heart of Shakespeare’s Warwickshire, our environment is very precious, with beautiful unspoilt views, and little noise and light pollution. We have a passion for sharing that experience with guests, while minimising our impact on the environment through our sustainability policy, conservation, use of local produce, energy-efficiency and environmentally-friendly business practices. We want to play our part by being environmentally friendly, and at the same time make it easy for guests to play their part too.

Recycling

In each cottage we provide containers to recycle cardboard, paper, glass, tins/cans and plastic.

Under each sink is a green garden waste to recycle compostable garden waste to be used in our beautiful gardens. Please leave batteries for us to dispose

Shopping

We have a local co-op 2 miles away and Tesco, Ocado, Asda and Sainsbury can deliver. We also have a farm shop at Hill Top Farm and one at Warmington Hill.

We are lucky to have some great Farmers markets here too where you can buy some lovely fresh and organic food and really feel that you have not only visited this part of England but tasted what we produce here too.

• Southam – Market Hill – 2nd Saturday of every month 9.00 – 2.00
• Stratford – Rother Street – 1st and 3rd Saturday of every month – 9.00 – 2.00
• Warwick – Market Place – 3rd Friday of every month – 9.00 – 2.00
• Shipston on Stour – Mill Street – 4th Wednesday – 9.00 – 2.00
• Leamington Spa – Pump Rooms – 4th Saturday – 9.00 – 2.00

Cleaning materials

The cleaning materials that we generally use to clean your cottage, and the ones we supply for your use in the cottages, are eco-friendly (phosphate-free, toxic free) products supplied to us in bulk

Energy

The cottages all have highly efficient condensing boilers, are very well insulated and have thermostats on each radiator. Where possible, we use low-energy light bulbs. Outdoor lighting is generally on movement sensors, so you don’t have to scrabble around in the dark, but don’t have to leave the lights on while you are out. Most of the appliances in the cottages are A+ or A rated to minimise energy consumption. Our energy and water consumption are monitored to identify opportunities to reduce consumption. Energy tariffs are reviewed on a regular basis.

Improving the area

The cottages are situated in the middle of New House Farm which participates in the, Environmental Stewardship scheme. There is an ongoing program of tree planting and establishing a meadow management for the meadow pasture with a neighbouring farmer who cuts it for hay. There is a deep encouragement of bird life, with feeders, not cutting hedges at nesting time, growing 6 meter hedge row buffer strips with grass and wild flowers, erecting nesting boxes, and all year-round feeding of birds around the cottages and the farm. Wildlife on the farm which has extreme significance for conservation is the high population of dragon flies on the orchard carp lake, the family of badgers and the daffodil mound and preserving the habitat of the tree sparrow which is closely monitored by the RSPB

Office

We recycle all of our office consumables, including ink cartridges (which go to support the Fenny Compton Junior School). We also conduct most of our communications (bookings, advertising etc) by email, keeping costs low and reducing the use of paper and ink (although we are very happy to provide written confirmations/receipts if you require).

Transport

We do live in the middle of nowhere, with very little public transport, so it is difficult to do without a vehicle. However, there is lots to do in the local area. The local pub is great and eminently walkable (2 ½ miles, so do take a torch – provided in your cottage – if you plan on walking home after dark as the local lanes are very narrow and dark, and ending your holiday as a bonnet mascot is not a great idea).  There are lots of lovely local walks and plenty to do locally with only a short hop in the car. You can hire bikes and have them delivered to the cottage. One very popular event is the bike/ pub crawl.

Think Local

We use local labour and materials wherever possible for the construction and ongoing maintenance of our cottages and grounds. We try to use local suppliers for all our cleaning materials, foodstuffs etc, ensuring that we are contributing to the local economy.

We are committed to continuously improving our environmental management so that future generations can continue to enjoy this environment. We would ask you to support our efforts in the following ways:

• Please switch off lights and televisions when not in use
• Please avoid going out for the whole day with the heating switched to a 24-hour programme (the barns are very well insulated, and the timer works really well!)
• If you have the heating on, please don’t use the doors and windows to adjust the temperature… there is a thermostat on every radiator
• Please use the recycling facilities to minimise the amount going to landfill.
• We would encourage you to contribute to the local economy by shopping locally where possible.
• We welcome any ideas from guests which may help us be more environmentally friendly while not affecting our guests enjoyment of our cottages