A green start?

Someone recently asked what environmental training we’d had… I laughed out loud at that. The answer is none; it’s just in our bones to do the right thing, and we love learning as we go:

Sarah: Recycling was a constant while I was growing up (along with shouts of “turn the light off!” and “don’t use more than you need young lady”) in fact I can still picture our weekly trips to the bottle bank and paper recycling, just next to our local supermarket. We had to park up there first and empty out the boot before we could go round the shop and earn our sweet treats.

Of course, recycling and turning off the lights is only a tiny part of sustainability, the whole of which, for me, is driven by a love for the world we live in. And although I didn’t always appreciate it at the time (yes, I was that ungrateful teenager!) my parents’ love for hiking, gardening & wildlife become a very strong influence on how I see that world and how I live now.

Phil: It’s not that I wasn’t aware of environmental issues before, but buying our small holding brought it home to me in a very real way. We were suddenly responsible for a piece of the planet, tiny by global standards but now I could see the difference that we could make, even on a small scale, by making small changes.

Which in turn opened my eyes to all the other small changes we could (and couldn’t) see around us. Everything we do now is done with the environment in mind; I’m thinking about my children, and theirs, and the world that we are leaving them as we move on; it’s a powerful thought.

Our story so far…

In 2015 we arrived in the Ribble Valley with grand plans to build a house and a glamping site. During the first few months of exploring our new fifteen acre plot, the plans grew to include new tree planting and habitat diversity… with a lot of enthusiasm but no experience of land-owning, we called in the help of the local AONB team and began a six (and counting!) year partnership as we dived into the challenges of being green!

? We also met with a wildlife surveyor, a tree surveyor, a bat specialist, our local RSPB rep and the Woodland Trust; we learned that we have at least 11 species of bat locally, that 99% of our existing trees are ‘nearing end of life and therefore not protectable’, and that we’re lucky to be enjoying so many curlews visiting every year with numbers declining.

? And we used all this information to build a plan for the land, to inform our designs for the house and for the proposed glamping site too.

? In the summer of 2016 we spread wildflower seed on 9 acres of previously homogenous grassland. Not just any wildflower seed either, but seed from one of the 2012 Coronation Meadows. We’re lucky to be just 3 miles from Lancashire’s official meadow who donate seed each year to nearby projects, thereby increasing the acres of meadows which were decimated last century.

?Our meadows are evolving really well but have some way to go to be really established. In the meantime you can visit Bell Sykes in Slaidburn (3 miles, 5 min drive, 1 hr walk) to find out just what our meadows could look like in a few years… it takes a lot of years and fettling to get it just right!

? In the winter of 2016 we planted 800 new trees with funding from the Woodland Trust and lots of much-appreciated hard work from friends and family! We planted 4,000 new hedge plants at the same time. Some of these trees are now 12 foot tall and we know they’ll be there to take over from our older, brittle trees as they fade. The hedge plants are thriving too, and will be ready to lay in a year or two.

? By New Year 2017 we also had planning permission for our new home and glamping site! We began work on the house first, choosing as many local contractors and suppliers as possible and working hard to make our new home as low impact as possible, visually and environmentally, and learning so much along the way. We have our own water supply now, which also feeds our ground source heat pump, and the insulation & triple glazing reduces our heat loss, keeping us cosy in winter.

? For the next few years we concentrated on maintaining the meadow, adding scrapes for wading birds, and building our coaching and consultancy business to help us sustain this blossoming acreage.

? We also took part (and still do) in annual Bee Surveys, walking the fields and counting the bees, by variety and by flowers visited, as well as by weather, reporting in to a wider network to see just what impact we’re making by improving the meadow diversity. Before the seeding we counted 60, afterwards 300…!

? Starting the glamping site took longer than we planned, but we had begun part of it by building the welcome lodge as we built the house. In 2020 (yes, the lockdowns) we decided to make this into phase one, as a standalone holiday let, and this became the Lodge you see today! Again, we had sustainability at the heart of the project, using local labour and suppliers, heavily insulating the building, and installing a rainwater harvesting system too, to keep running costs and environmental impact low. The garden is planted to be self-reliant, as well as attract pollinators (in case the meadow flowers aren’t enough!) and a log burner keeps the Lodge cosy. We became Green Tourism members in 2022, pledged to The Ethical Move, and are part of our local Sustainable Tourism Network too.

? In 2023 we are adding 1,200 plug plants to our meadow to boost the growth of these preferred species. We are also managing the invasive reeds with advice from the AONB team whilst retaining the boggy areas loved by wading birds.

What else?

Being as rural as we are means we don’t always see lots of people… but we still love supporting people in their growth just as much as we enjoy nurturing the trees!

How do we do this?

? By offering pro-bono support to local charities to bring clarity to their values, vision and strategy, helping them to grow & develop strongly

? By hosting group coaching for charity leaders, building skills and confidence

? By hosting working parties for local scout & guide groups – plug planting or tree guard removal – and for grown up volunteers too!

Plus we have more plans for the future 🙂