Trericket Mill's Environmental Policy
We are privileged to live in this beautiful and unspoilt part of the Upper Wye Valley and try to run our business in a way that minimises its impact on the environment. We run a wholly vegetarian establishment and hope that by serving interesting and tasty meat free food to our guests we will promote a diet that is less resource intensive and more environmentally sustainable.
We have listed below some of the measures we are taking to implement our policy, although the list is not exhaustive and we are continually looking for new ways to make our business more sustainable - please help us in our aim, if you have any new ideas please let us know!
Water and Energy Conservation
We use energy efficient bulbs and switch off heaters and lights in unoccupied rooms. Because we live in a listed building, there are restrictions on energy conservation measures we can take, but all our loft space is thickly insulated and we have dry lined most of the the exterior walls and installed double glazed windows on the new part of the building.
Whenever we replace any electrical appliances our criteria is to buy the most energy efficient available and we use eco laundry and drier balls to reduce energy used in our laundry process. We have a policy for guests reuse of towels. To enable our septic tanks to work at maximum efficiency we only use eco-friendly cleaning products and toiletries.
Food
All our catering is vegetarian and where possible we source food from local suppliers. In the summer we grow herbs and vegetables and our own free-range ducks and hens supply eggs for breakfast. We make our own jams and pickles using fruit from our orchard. We buy organic and fair-trade produce and use SUMA wholefoods, an ethical co-operative to supply our bulk groceries. We make our bread and most of our meals from scratch, thus reducing road miles on our food.
Waste
Wherever possible we reuse items such as packaging, envelopes, paper; where not possible we recycle cardboard, plastic, metal, light bulbs, batteries, tetrapaks, paper and glass and buy recycled products where possible (eg all our toilet paper & envelopes are made with recycled paper) to support the recycling chain. We reuse A4 paper in our printer and recycle printer cartridges. Where possible bookings are dealt with by email to reduce paper consumption. Our hens and ducks help deal with food waste, otherwise it is composted in one of our 3 'green cones'. When we upgrade guesthouse items such as furniture or bedding they are offered amongst the local community through the Freecycle network.
Travel and Transport
On our website we provide information on public transport, local walks, bike hire and other sustainable activities and we have local bus timetables and walking routes available for guests. We are members of the Cyclists Welcome scheme and work closely with local cycle and canoe hire businesses. We hold lots of information on local walks and enjoy helping guests plan circular or one way walks using public transport. For guests walking or cycling long distance routes we waive our 2 night minimum stay policy.
Natural and Cultural Heritage
We are located in an SSSI and encourage diversity of wildlife through wildlife gardening and tree planting, bird and bat boxes. We are members of the local wildlife trusts and have information about local wildlife guests can look out for during their stay as well as local markets, events and festivals. We are members of the Welsh Mills Society and keep all the original milling machinery accessible to guests with explanatory information to help them understand the historic milling process.
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