We are in Wales,the worlds first FAIRTRADE nation.

All three cottages are individually located ( we are not a complex) and in Monmouthshire. They are within or close to an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty ( Wye Valley) and close to the Brecon Beacons National Park and the historic Royal Forest of Dean .There are any number of little SSIs in the locality , clear rivers , fresh air, and excellent wildlife.
Is it any wonder we like to be as green as possible!

We were awarded the Green Dragon award at level two when we had just Foxes Reach and Vanilla cottage. The Green Dragon award is available to all Welsh businesses . Level two is the highest appropriate level for us ( higher levels apply to heavy manufacturing industry) so this is a real accolade.We have let this grading process lapse due to the high cost of renewal but we not only maintain the award standards , we now exceed them.

At Tintern Abbey Cottage and at Foxes Reach we hold the newer Green Business Tourism Award at the highest ( GOLD) level, unsuprising as between them and our own home/office we have solar panels, air source heating and photovoltaic elecetricity generation, low energy lighting and much more.( Vanilla also has clean green air source heating but has not yet applied for the award.)

What does all this green stuff mean to your holiday?

First of all. Let us be clear that our green efforts do NOT mean that you sacrifice comfort in any way! We are terrifically proud to hold our prixewinning luxury 5 star ratings and we mean to keep them!
Nor does it mean you will find any cranky “knit your own yoghurt” type ideas here! Our cottages are completely “normal” in use (and frankly, if you didn’t ask or we didn’t write this you might not notice we were green at all.) What it does mean is that we are passionate about looking after our very special Monmouthshire environment (and the planet in general come to that since we only have the one) and so we are always looking for a kinder, cleaner, less wasteful, more responsible, way of doing everything we do for you.

The big ways in which we have made changes are

Heating and hot water
Our boiler at Foxes Reach is as efficient in its use of precious oil as we can make it It is serviced often by local engineers and Foxes Reach now boasts the newest condensing type. The houses are all very well insulated and we have thermostats and timers so that the heat is on and cosy when you are likely to be home and not wastefully running when you are likely to be out.

At Tintern Abbey cottage and at Vanilla Cottage the entire heating and hot water system is an airsource heat pump which basically turns cold air into warm air by the reverse process used by a freezer. If you are not scientifically minded it seems like magic- but its clean and green and burns no fossil fuel.

At Foxes Reach we have a solar hot water system which means that the sun heats the water when it shines ( often, in fact, even in winter, as we are high here) but when that fails the oil kicks in. You wont notice the difference as in use its all "normal" but it’s a good one.
Our hot tub is refilled with solar water and the remaining electricity it uses is also generated by the PV panels on the roof.

Our firewood and our kindling is grown sustainably and packed into handy nets for your convenience . We don’t apply big markups to our firewood supplies, and we are often cheaper than supermarkets /garden centres for similar sacks of wood. We want to encourage you to buy our sustainable wood and use it as the sustainable and frankly gorgeous option.

Lighting
Wherever possible we have energy saving lightbulbs and as these expire we are now changing to LED bulbs which are better still. The outside lights are on timers and the little garden lighting is all solar (except for the Christmas fairy lights- not enough sun at that time of year to twinkle them for you).

Recycling
We recycle and encourage you to do so too. Where there is a doorstep collection we use it. If not, we take your recycling to the collection points ourselves. ( We dont do food waste collection and we dont have compost heaps at the cottages as they do require careful management and so far not all guests can cope with this.)

Unclaimed lost property and items no longer meeting our 5 star very smart standards go to charity shops or for recycling as appropriate. We are active members of Monmouth Freecycle and give away Free ( hence the name) items which can still be used but are no longer quite smart enough for our exacting 5 star standards. Recent examples include the sitting room carpet from Foxes Reach, the entire kitchen and equipment from Vanilla, Vanillas king mattress, a toilet and washbasin and much more.

Insulation
We have thick attic insulation and double glazing throughout. When Tintern Abbey Cottage was rebuilt the entire house was covered in thick insulation from top to toe and in 2010 Foxes Reach's cold old floor was dug up to insulate below it so the new oak is now much warmer as well.

Equipment
All our machinery ( dishwashers, cookers etc) has AA or even AAA ratings and/or eco programmes and we give you enough crockery and cutlery so that there is never a need to run a half filled machine. We have washing lines and pegs too!

Cleaning and laundry
We use eco friendly products and cool washes wherever we can. However you will have noticed that we don’t compromise on cleaning standards and if we need to bring in the serious chemicals and the boil wash we will do so- but only rarely and after the gentler options have failed.
Linens are dried on the line as far as possible. They smell better for a blow in fresh air as well as using less power!

Local suppliers
We do our very best to use local products. Where we cant do this we prefer the Fairtrade or other eco option and we buy from local suppliers at least. All our regular workmen are from locally based family firms. They are craftsmen and we are proud to have them on board. When we won Best in Wales it was hard to tell if we or they were more thrilled.

Garden planting and wildlife
We use no harsh garden chemicals and our gardens are deliberately planted to encourage the visiting wildlife. In summer you will see many birds bees moths and butterflies as a result. We don’t deadhead until the birds have eaten the seeds from the heads and we compost the grass cuttings. Our flowerbed fertiliser is a recycled product supplied in generous quantity (!!) by our own horses. The lavender and santolina from the gardens, in particular, perfume the bedlinens.

Eating out and shopping
In the cottages you will find lists of places to eat and drink which use local produce as well as ideas of where to buy it to take home. Its convenient, it tastes better and its fresher. What more could you ask?

Sightseeing
Apart from the good bus service from the bottom of the drive at Abbey Cottage public transport is unfortunately pretty inconvenient in our area so we know you will need to use a car to get the most from your holiday. However we do have wonderful cycling and walking with waymarked paths, including famous routes, from all three doorsteps. Whether fit enough for a real hike or just more of a gentle potter we would encourage you to get out and enjoy the scenery in the fresh air. Its free- and you will feel wonderful come rain or shine. How many years is it since you went jumping in puddles?

Behind the scenes
Our office is at our own home and we do our best to reuse and recycle the huge mass of paper we accrue. (What happened to the notion of the paperfree office?)We think we are losing this battle! At our back doorstep you will always find a rather untidy heap of cottage recycling waiting for collection and since the refurbishment of Abbey Cottage there is a vast heap of bits of scrap wood which powers the homefires. We look like the last scene of Les Miserables , pretty awful, but we wont tidy it up in a wasteful way so it has to stay and reduce though gradual use.
Our own hot water is also solar and we are planning PV panels to run our office machinery.