The Grange Country House - looking after our environment

We are lucky to live in this beautiful part of the country and are committed to helping to protect it by introducing practices which minimise waste and emissions. Here are some examples of steps we currently take to minimise our impact upon the environment. Your support and co-operation is very much appreciated.

Recycling and composting: All of our juice cartons, plastic and glass bottles, paper and card are recycled. We have a composting system for any raw food peelings, coffee grounds, teabags and eggshells and all green waste from the garden.

A recycling bin is on the lobby half way up the stairs. Please pop any of your recyclables in here for us to sort.

Reducing food miles: We try to reduce food miles as much as we can and have a policy of buying our milk, yoghurts, free-range eggs, bacon, sausages, black pudding and as many miscellaneous items as possible from local producers. There is an emphasis upon seasonal products.

Protecting producers overseas: We are members of the Keswick Fair Trade Group and buy Fair Trade goods whenever we can. We are proud and supportive of the positive effect that this organisation and their accreditation system has on producers and their environment in the third world.

Energy efficiency:

• We ask you to let us know which towels you would like to be replaced by popping them in the bath or shower if they need changing and leaving them on the towel rail or radiator if you’d be happy to re-use them. We reduce tumble drying by ‘pegging out’ our clean towels to dry every day that the sun is out!
• We are replacing most existing light bulbs with low energy replacements.
• Electric showers will be installed in all the first floor shower rooms this winter. This will reduce wasted water in achieving constant flow and adequate temperature.
• We are investigating systems which reduce heat loss, such as double glazing and additional insulation.

Protecting and enhancing the environment: We are members of the Tourism and Conservation Partnership which works with local tourism businesses to encourage our visitors to contribute towards protecting and enhancing this lovely landscape. This year we are raising funds to support conservation work in Garth Wood – Last year The Grange made a contribution of 50p per guest (a total of £403.00) towards this project. This year we would like to match fund the total contributions made by our guests. Many of you will walk through these woods while you are here, and we would be grateful if you would consider making a contribution towards the work of the Tourism and Conservation Partnership – there is a collection box in the lobby – alternatively you can make a contribution and gift aid it via your bill.

Use of biodegradable chemicals: Almost all of our cleaning agents are neutral detergents. We do not use aerosol sprays for any of our cleaning products.

Community Involvement: Local organisations we work with in order to achieve an Environmental Policy and influence local policy include:

• Keswick Fair Trade initiative
• Tourism and Conservation Project
• Cumbria Business Environment Network
• Local Agenda 21
• Allerdale Borough Council

Future Developments: In the future, we will use the skills of qualified environmental assessors, together with our own investigations of new technologies and suggestions from both staff and guests in order to continually reduce our carbon emissions and reduce our environmental impact.