Showing posts with label sustainable tourism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sustainable tourism. Show all posts
Jan 28, 2011
Solar Thermal Update
We did a pretty good job of tracking our use of solar thermal water heating last year and the results are in the chart below. Overall we created over 7000 kWh of energy from the sun, all of which was used to heat water in the cottages and in the pool. The best performer was Westhayes with the Farmhouse and the Pool coming out even. Marhayes did pretty well considering the roof is not South facing so all in all a good result.
Jan 26, 2011
PV power comes to Helsbury...
With Cornwall being the centre of the "Solar Goldrush" it seems only right that we would be part of it and here we are with our first set of PV panels up and running. They are going on Westhayes, Broadview and on the Stables by the Farmhouse to power the pool. We'll be tracking their output on a weekly basis.
Feb 24, 2010
Sustainable Tourism Charter for the best bits of Cornwall
The Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (making up over a quarter of the County and in which Helsbury Park is located) has formally been awarded the European Charter for Sustainable Tourism by the Europarc Federation. Europarc is the voice of Europe's protected areas with over 400 members in 36 countries, who themselves manage the 'green jewels' of Europe's land, sea, mountains, forests, rivers and cultural heritage. The aim of the Charter is to increase awareness of and support for Europe's protected areas and to improve the sustainable development and management of tourism within them.
Having sustainability at the heart of our business, as many do here in Cornwall, has contributed to this prestigious award. Thanks to all our guests for their support with this strategy.
Jun 19, 2009
It's Yet More Gold for Helsbury
We're absolutely delighted to announce our latest success, we've achieved GOLD standard in the Green Tourism Business Scheme [GTBS]. It's extremely prestigious and quite an arduous process to attain a gold but we've managed it first time. Part of the assessment involved looking at our new pool building which has serious sustainable credentials and that helped us attain the award.
Apr 28, 2009
Solar panels are installed...
We're hoping for a really good summer for more than one reason this year as we're using the sun to heat our swimming pool, the panels are geared up to produce water at 82 degrees to keep the pool at a very comfortable 32. They look very impressive and hopefully will be man enough for the job.
Apr 2, 2009
A big pat on the back...
Everyone who has visited Helsbury Park in the last 12 months must have noticed our Recycling Centres. We had these made (from FSC wood by local craftsmen) to try to organise our recycling more efficiently. Most people who completed our online ‘green’ questionnaire said they’d be happy to do it especially if it was simple and that has certainly proved true. In the last 12 months we have taken nearly 2 tonnes of plastics, tins, glass and cardboard to the Recycling Centre! Well done everyone that’s a lot of stuff not in landfill and a big THANK YOU for your support in our efforts towards sustainable tourism.
Aug 5, 2008
Our new bike shed...
Our new bike shed is strictly not for smoking behind, its a great addition to our on site facilities and provides our guests with use of bikes so they can leave the car behind and enjoy a ride up to the coast or along the Camel Trail which is only a few miles away.
Jul 3, 2008
Consider offsetting your trip...
Carbon Kiss of Cornwall have set up an easy way of offsetting the carbon used in your trip down for your holiday, why not consider planting a tree and dedicating it to someone you know?
Apr 15, 2008
Helsbury Park Sustainability Survey
We recently sent an email survey to our database on the subject of sustainable tourism, we covered everything from wind farms to composting. We were overwhelmed with the response with over 250 surveys returned, it gave us some really strong opinions and views which we’ll be using to help shape our sustainable tourism strategy.
The most satisfying results were around our recycling policy, with well over 90% people happy to support our moves in this area, with a small caveat that we must make it straightforward for people to do we have a huge thumbs up for sorting rubbish, separating vegetable waste and reducing the levels of waste going to landfill. The vast majority of people [95%] would also buy local farm produce as long as it was competitively priced and convenient. We’ve been running a scheme with our local grocery store for some time now and we’re looking to extend that to include vegetable boxes as well as growing some of our own produce on site.
There was also a marked support for the introduction of energy saving schemes like reducing water usage and turning off electrical appliances. We’ll be making our guests more aware of these issues when they’re on site, without compromising the quality of the experience we offer.
We were interested to get views on the bigger environmental issues that affect all of us. It was fascinating to learn that 70% people aren’t sure if wind power is actually effective. The majority of people don’t have a problem with wind farms, they recognise that they’re part of a bigger solution and they look spectacular especially when compared to electricity pylons. However when it comes to having them in your own neighbourhood there is some resistance, it would seem that if we were given the facts about how effective they are it might help to get them introduced. Most of our respondents thought there were less than 50 wind turbines in Cornwall, in fact there are around 100. This fact probably shows that people do not mind seeing them, if they did they would probably exaggerate the number they thought there were.
On car usage we knew that people would be more divided and only 30% thought that offsetting the carbon used in their journey was a good idea. As every one of our guests arrives in a car we could not really expect a different result. We’re striving to help guests once they are on site to not use their cars every day. We provide bikes for guest use, we’re only a few minutes from the start of the Camel Trail, the unique 20 mile cycle route from Bodmin Moor to Padstow. We have 100 acres of land with river frontage, pasture and beautiful woodland for guests to enjoy walking in, with or without dogs so it’s possible to have restful days on site. We’re also looking to extend the onsite facilities in line with this strategy.
Thanks for all your support and if you submitted a survey thank you.
The most satisfying results were around our recycling policy, with well over 90% people happy to support our moves in this area, with a small caveat that we must make it straightforward for people to do we have a huge thumbs up for sorting rubbish, separating vegetable waste and reducing the levels of waste going to landfill. The vast majority of people [95%] would also buy local farm produce as long as it was competitively priced and convenient. We’ve been running a scheme with our local grocery store for some time now and we’re looking to extend that to include vegetable boxes as well as growing some of our own produce on site.
There was also a marked support for the introduction of energy saving schemes like reducing water usage and turning off electrical appliances. We’ll be making our guests more aware of these issues when they’re on site, without compromising the quality of the experience we offer.
We were interested to get views on the bigger environmental issues that affect all of us. It was fascinating to learn that 70% people aren’t sure if wind power is actually effective. The majority of people don’t have a problem with wind farms, they recognise that they’re part of a bigger solution and they look spectacular especially when compared to electricity pylons. However when it comes to having them in your own neighbourhood there is some resistance, it would seem that if we were given the facts about how effective they are it might help to get them introduced. Most of our respondents thought there were less than 50 wind turbines in Cornwall, in fact there are around 100. This fact probably shows that people do not mind seeing them, if they did they would probably exaggerate the number they thought there were.
On car usage we knew that people would be more divided and only 30% thought that offsetting the carbon used in their journey was a good idea. As every one of our guests arrives in a car we could not really expect a different result. We’re striving to help guests once they are on site to not use their cars every day. We provide bikes for guest use, we’re only a few minutes from the start of the Camel Trail, the unique 20 mile cycle route from Bodmin Moor to Padstow. We have 100 acres of land with river frontage, pasture and beautiful woodland for guests to enjoy walking in, with or without dogs so it’s possible to have restful days on site. We’re also looking to extend the onsite facilities in line with this strategy.
Thanks for all your support and if you submitted a survey thank you.
Mar 1, 2008
Recycling Centre Launched...
Well we finally got there, phase 1 of our drive towards sustainability was the installation of solar panels, and now we have our first recycling centre. Guests are being asked to sort their refuse into 6 different categories which makes it easier for us to recycle it locally.
Jan 22, 2008
Organic Food Delivered to Your [Cottage] Door
We recently found a great local company called Riverford Farm who can deliver all sorts of organic produce to the door. You can pre-order one of their organic veg boxes online to be here on your arrival, check their web site for more details.
Sustainable Tourism
In an effort to move towards a sustainable model for the way Helsbury runs we’re trialling solar panels for heating our hot water in the Farmhouse. If it proves successful we’ll look to roll it out in the barns and at Broadview too. As Cornwall’s heavily reliant on oil as a fuel source this looks like a good way to go. Look out for the new recycling centres which are coming soon too and if you receive our enewsletter we'll be asking you to take part in a survey about the whole subject soon, with a chance to win a £250 Helsbury voucher to boot!
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