Sustainability

Energy Conservation

We ask all guests to be mindful of consuming energy whilst on-site, heating systems are set to ensure that no heat is wasted and wood burning should be used responsibly.

The Great Barn has solar panels to harness the suns heat and offset our use of traditional energy, with the wood used in the barn stoves sourced responsibility with 30% of the wood harvested from fallen trees on site.

Water Conservation

The water used on-site comes from our own borehole which taps into our onsite well.

Sewerage

In 2019 we installed our own onsite sewage plant at Retreat East, this ensures that we are able to treat our own sewerage in a sustainable manner before being converted back into clean water. To ensure standards are legal we get our water sources tested every three months.

Cleaning products

All of our cleaning products and bathroom amenities are organic bio-based oils. These more natural products have proven performance, are less irritating to guests and employees and are less destructive to the environment.

Farm Garden

Our farm garden is one of our key features at Retreat East, our Farm Gardener works hard to produce the vegetables that are served in our restaurant and farm shop.

All of our vegetables are produced in line with the government regulations and comply with the test and inspections carried out by the appointed officials.

Composting

With our onsite Organic Farm Garden, it’s important that we are able to put goodness back into the soil responsibly. All compostable food waste is placed within our compost heaps and reinjected back into the soil at the right time.

All grass cuttings, plant cuttings and prunings are also placed in our compost heaps to be injected back into the farm garden at the appropriate time.

Laundry

All of our laundry is handled by Johnson further information on their sustainability policy can be found here.

We ask guests to only use the laundry they require.

Continuous improvement

We are striving to be better at everything we do at Retreat East whilst we don’t have an unlimited budget, as new environmental products become available we will review the viability of installing them at Retreat East.