Sustainability

Sustainability at halsbeer farm

Energy
As you no doubt are aware, electricity and oil prices are incredibly high at the moment. Our business electricity prices are doubling at the end of June 2022 as we are not subject to the domestic rate cap. One way we can attempt to offset this increase is by reducing the amount of energy both we and our guests use. We have already changed all of the cottage lightbulbs to low energy ones. We have recently retired a very old freezer and have made a commitment to only use tumble dryers when absolutely necessary, instead air-drying all laundry whenever possible.

We respectfully ask our guests to consider their energy use while at Halsbeer Farm, not just due to the cost to us (which will eventually have to be passed on to our customers in the form of higher holiday prices) but also to help reduce the cost to the environment. We ask that you please:

turn all lights off when not in use;
maintain the room temperature between 18 and 21 degrees Celsius;
do not run the heating with windows and doors open;
instead use radiator thermostats to control temperatures in different rooms;
turn the heating down or off when you are out for the day and preferably at night;
dress appropriately for the season. Bring your slippers as we have stone floors throughout the ground floors of the cottages. You might like to bring a jumper or a dressing gown too in cooler months.

If you need to do laundry while at Halsbeer please:

try to only wash a full load, or use a short programme at 30 degrees;
avoid using the tumble dryers unless absolutely necessary. There is a larger airer available to use in the laundry room and each cottage should also have a free-standing airer you can use outside or inside the cottage. Please ask Katie if you can't find it.

Thank you for helping us to help the environment and keep your holidays affordable.

Electric vehicle charging
If you are interest in charging an electric vehicle while at Halsbeer Farm please talk to Katie about the possibility of doing so. At present we are unable to install a dedicated electric vehicle charger due to only having single phase electricity. You may be able to plug in where Katie charges her hybrid electric vehicle as long as you bring a suitable charger with you with three pin plug and as long as you agree to pay for the electricity you use. Please do not plug in to any sockets in the cottages as these are not protected by adequate circuit breakers and may result in electrical problems.

Refuse and recycling
Please recycle as much as you can while on holiday - we have separate bins for paper and card, metal and plastic, and glass bottles and jars. Please rinse items to remove food waste, remove lids and compress cans and plastic bottles as much as possible to save space - we pay per dumpy bag to be collected so we want to fit as much in as possible. All of our recycling is collected by Devon-company Bottleman.

Any residual general waste that cannot be recycled, including food waste, should be placed in a tied off black bin bag and put in the green wheely bins. This general waste is collected by Devon County Council on a zero to landfill service. The waste is taken to an energy generation facility in Exeter.

Cleaning materials
Wherever possible we use environmentally friendly cleaning products such as Bio-D, Ecover and Method. We purchase large refills of many products so please don't throw away any empty bottles, for example of washing up liquid and hand soap as we re-fill these. If you need a refill during your stay please ask.