Henllys Lodge – Sustainability Policy
Our lodge house is situated in the beautiful upper Tywi Valley. We want to do everything we can to preserve and protect it and its environment whilst at the same time contributing to the local fragile economy. When we rebuilt the Lodge, we used a local architect who had sustainability uppermost in her mind and, where possible, we used locally sourced materials and products. The insulation in the house is sheep’s wool, we have ground source heat pumps and solar panels to reduce the demands we make of the electricity grid and we are seeking the highest possible grade of award as members of the Green Tourism Business Scheme. We believe that caring for our environment and doing as much as possible in a way that is sustainable enhances the experience of people who come and stay at Henllys Lodge.
It’s been a steep learning curve and we haven’t yet got everything right, but we are committed to making continuous improvements and we will monitor our environmental performance at least annually. For example, at this time, only some of our lighting uses low energy light bulbs but when any light bulb needs replacing low energy ones will be used.
We have put in place a number of measures that help sustainability:
- Advice given about walking and cycling routes
- The use of eco friendly washing and cleaning products
- ‘A’ and ‘A*’ rated appliances
- Local and/or organic sourced products for the welcome hampers
- Recycling bins for food waste and containers for other forms of recycling
- Heating and hot water emanating from our ground source heat pumps and solar panels, reducing the use of electricity from the grid
- A composting bin for food waste
- Supporting local shops, pubs, cafes, restaurants and tourist sites through recommendations we make in the literature we have available
- Minimising the use of hazardous and toxic substances and safe disposal of those we do use
- Purchasing Fairtrade and/or recycled products where we can
- Extensive information in our green folder about how we try and protect our environment
- Planting our garden with native plants and encouraging biodiversity by building a pond
We hope during your stay you will be encouraged to be as sustainable as possible and that you take home what you may have learnt and also give us feedback on how we can make improvements.
In the future we will:
- Source more of our products locally and in doing so support local businesses
- Provide information about new walks or cycle routes that we discover or are notified about
- When we need to replace goods or products we will take into account the latest information about those that are the most environmentally friendly
- Continue to monitor our usage of electricity and find ways to reduce it further whilst maintaining a sufficient comfort level for all of our guests
- Keep up to date the information we provide to promote sustainability
- Play our part in promoting green tourism.
Lise Dulniak and Richard Sumray