Sustainability

At Beacon Hill Farm we believe that tourism and environmental sustainability should go hand in hand. You will find this ethos in everything we do, from the way our holiday cottages have been designed and built, through to smaller details, such as supplying you with fair trade tea and coffee for your stay and providing energy efficient lighting. So as you enjoy the beautiful Northumbrian countryside around us, we ask you to help us continue to protect this wonderful part of the country, by reducing energy use and minimising environmental impact wherever possible.

Reducing our carbon footprint is central to our environmental policy, where we have looked at every aspect of our business and identified ways we can lessen our impact. Investing in energy efficient lighting, heating and white goods has helped us cut our energy consumption a great deal, and by using locally sourced food and services wherever possible, we have extended our green principles to the wider community, benefitting the local economy as well as the environment.
We now use no oil whatsoever at Beacon Hill Farm!

Our most recent investments include the following:

 Solar Thermal panels

We have installed 6 square meters of Solar PV panels to the Spa roof, in association with 2 new 260 litre pressurised hot water cylinders. In hot weather this provides all the shower water required for the 5 showers at the Spa. Even in comparatively cool spells our mains water is pre-heated considerably from the 11 degrees it arrives to us at; it is then brought up to the final temperature by the Bio Mass boiler.

Solar PV panels

We have installed 130 solar photovoltaic panels which produce 32kw, enough to continuously power 16 kettles, on a ground installation to the west of the farm, in a spot that has no impact on the views whatsoever.

Biomass Boiler

We are always looking for new ways to help protect the environment whether on our doorstep or globally which is why we have made a major investment in a new Froling Biomass wood chip boiler, bought from Austria where this technology has been perfected. This boiler heats 15 cottages, the Farmhouse, the Games Room and our large indoor Spa, with the wood chip material coming from thinning’s from local soft wood forests.
We have retained the original boilers as back up. Our fossil fuel use for domestic heating and hot water has been reduced to zero.
Having a Bio Mass boiler has enabled us to have the heating available to guests, 24/7 all year round. Whilst we encourage guests not to squander heat, we like them to be as warm as they wish to be.

Electric Charging Unit

We offer EV car charging at Beacon Hill through VendElectric charging points. Please go To vendelectric.com to download the VendElectric app to your mobile, either before you come or whilst you are here. These are non-tethered charging units;  please bring your own charging cables. We currently have 3 charging points with 2 more planned shortly.

 

At Beacon Hill Farm we believe that tourism and environmental sustainability should go hand in hand. You will find this ethos in everything we do, from the way our holiday cottages have been designed and built, through to smaller details, such as supplying you with fair trade tea and coffee for your stay and providing energy efficient lighting. So as you enjoy the beautiful Northumbrian countryside around us, we ask you to help us continue to protect this wonderful part of the country, by reducing energy use and minimising environmental impact wherever possible.

Reducing our carbon footprint is central to our environmental policy, where we have looked at every aspect of our business and identified ways we can lessen our impact. Investing in energy efficient lighting, heating and white goods has helped us cut our energy consumption a great deal, and by using locally sourced food and services wherever possible, we have extended our green principles to the wider community, benefitting the local economy as well as the environment.
We now use no oil whatsoever at Beacon Hill Farm!

Our most recent investments include the following:

 Solar Thermal panels

We have installed 6 square meters of Solar PV panels to the Spa roof, in association with 2 new 260 litre pressurised hot water cylinders. In hot weather this provides all the shower water required for the 5 showers at the Spa. Even in comparatively cool spells our mains water is pre-heated considerably from the 11 degrees it arrives to us at; it is then brought up to the final temperature by the Bio Mass boiler.

Solar PV panels

We have installed 130 solar photovoltaic panels which produce 32kw, enough to continuously power 16 kettles, on a ground installation to the west of the farm, in a spot that has no impact on the views whatsoever.

Biomass Boiler

We are always looking for new ways to help protect the environment whether on our doorstep or globally which is why we have made a major investment in a new Froling Biomass wood chip boiler, bought from Austria where this technology has been perfected. This boiler heats 15 cottages, the Farmhouse, the Games Room and our large indoor Spa, with the wood chip material coming from thinning’s from local soft wood forests.
We have retained the original boilers as back up. Our fossil fuel use for domestic heating and hot water has been reduced to zero.
Having a Bio Mass boiler has enabled us to have the heating available to guests, 24/7 all year round. Whilst we encourage guests not to squander heat, we like them to be as warm as they wish to be.

Electric Charging Unit

We offer EV car charging at Beacon Hill through VendElectric charging points. Please go To vendelectric.com to download the VendElectric app to your mobile, either before you come or whilst you are here. These are non-tethered charging units;  please bring your own charging cables. We currently have 3 charging points with 2 more planned shortly.

 

 Key points behind our green business strategy

We:-

• Annually extensively plant and manage deciduous trees and hedges on the 360 acre estate
• Manage Meg’s Lake and the 20 acre nature reserve surrounding it, to maximise diversity of species
• Comply with environmental legislation and approved codes of practice
• Participate in the Green Tourism Scheme; we are holders of a Gold Award from the Green Tourism Business Association.
• We launder all the sheets and towels on site
• Produce as much of our own energy as possible from solar, biomass and carbon free sources
• Continuously seek to improve our environmental and social performance
• Reduce consumption of energy, water and other resources
• Monitor water, wood chip and electricity use monthly
• Expect high environmental standards from suppliers and contractors
• Help customers use products and services in an environmentally sensitive way
• Engage and train our employees to help us maintain our green ethos
• Source good quality local products and services, where possible
• Provide on-site recycling for waste materials including glass
• Replace ageing white goods with energy-efficient appliances and recycle furniture through our local reclamation centre
• Encourage guests’ participation in our sustainable efforts through our website, guest information folders and notice boards.
• Revisit our Green objectives through regular reappraisals of our Green Action Plan as part of our company briefings.