Take a holiday anywhere and you will most likely see claims that your
accommodation ‘strongly cares about the environment’. Examples of what
it does will range from a ‘towel policy’, ‘we recycle’ statement, low
energy lighting and / or activity responsive controls, to local sourcing
arrangements. All good of course, irrespective of whether these steps
were actually taken with sustainability in mind, or ‘just’ plain old
cost saving measures.
Increasingly however, operators in the tourism industry go well and
truly beyond the ‘please hang up your towel if it doesn’t need washing’
statement, and here at Mazzard Farm
cottages on East Hill (Ottery St. Mary, Devon), we believe we do as
much as we possibly can to keep up with these developments. And dare we
say so, we may have even developed one or two initiatives ourselves!
In broad terms, we distinguish between two major elements: the actions we have taken ourselves / behaviours we show, and guest behaviours we hope to influence, trying to make sure our guests have a great holiday, and one which is as sustainable as possible.
Looking at the former, besides all the obvious ones (i.e. materials
used when converting our barns into cottages, energy and lighting, green
cleaning solutions, appliances, recycling, biomass boiler, solar PV
panels), we provide discounts to guests arriving by public transport and
encourage guests to enjoy local wildlife (we are in an AONB).
Furthermore, we are very active locally (schools, business forums, green
networks), and we regularly offer Mazzard Farm as an ‘educational
playground’ for local groups such as the school, nursery and Brownie
packs.
It is in regards to influencing our guests’ behaviours where we
believe we have discovered new and innovative approaches. Innovations
which are easily transferable to other tourism businesses. For example,
ahead of guests arriving at Mazzard Farm we e-mail them two documents: a
comprehensive Guide to ‘what to do in the area’ and a ‘Shopping Locally in Ottery St. Mary’ 2-pager.
Both have a number of objectives: ensuring our guests have the best
possible time at Mazzard Farm of course, but other aims include
supporting the local economy, keeping food-miles down and reducing the
use of a car during people’s stay. We estimate that the East Devon Guide
alone reduces guests’ car use by as much as 75%, and since we launched
the local shopping 2-pager, supermarket deliveries have virtually
ceased.
We very much believe in the carrot rather than the stick, and that is
why our approach works. And what is more, we know that some aspects of
the ‘Mazzard Farm experience’ can lead to changing behaviours at home
too!
www.mazzardfarm.com / 01404 815492
