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Mill Cross Retreats Green Values

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Our eco-friendly thoughts & actions

We are committed to trying harder and doing more to achieve high standards of socially and environmentally sustainable business practices.

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Why bother?

The environment really matters to us & we see its destruction around us every day. We are committed to making your stay as enjoyable & relaxing as we can but equally about making it as sustainable and green as possible.  We very much want to provide our guests & visitors with a holiday or workshop of high quality whilst supporting our local community & preserving our beautiful surroundings for the prosperity & enjoyment of future generations. We pro-actively participate in good environmental practices & are members of the Rattery environment group (REG) to do what we can in the wider village and parish.

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We are parents to 6 children & grandparents to 7 & our time is limited to do our bit to leave a world for them. We don’t want to sound preachy- but we want to do what we can to minimise the damage we inflict on the planet for future generations. We helped make the mess, so we have to help clear it up! We accept that we’re not perfect too- but we always try to do everything we can to get it right.

In planning & managing our small business at Mill Cross Retreats, we have looked at all our inputs & outputs & tried to minimise the environmental impact of them all, as much as possible. We don’t think this is at odds with your enjoyment. Indeed we think it enhances it & we ask you to commit to join us in playing your part here when you visit or stay & when you return home.

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IN SUMMARY- WHAT WE DO

  • Use low energy light bulbs

  • Have outside lights on sensors and use solar powered lights wherever we can

  • Put timers on radiators and outside lights

  • Buy organic bed linen and Devon wool duvets

  • Buy good quality so it lasts 

  • Re-purpose, recycle and re-use

  • We sort your clean recycling, burning what we can, composting what we can and effectively recycling the remainder. 

  • Collect rainwater for watering plants

  • Keep fridges defrosted & freezer boxes ice free. We turn them off when guests leave

  • Buy large containers to refill bottles of washing up liquid, Faith in Nature toiletries & handwash to reduce plastic

  • We use bamboo and unbleached tissues and kitchen rolls

  • We use Who Gives a Crap toilet paper which is eco-conscious, doesn’t use plastic and supports clean water & toilets in poorer countries

  • We use bamboo kitchen roll & tissues 

  • We use bio-degradable non-chemical wipes.

  • We don’t use aerosols

  • We use environmentally friendly cleaning & laundry products

  • We wash at 30 degrees

  • When we clean our holiday accommodation, we keep the almost empty toilet rolls and use them in our home.

  • We provide bird boxes, feeding points and habitat piles as homes for insects

  • We compost leftovers & have a wormery which breaks down food and produces compost for the garden

  • Where we have more bulky veg waste like ends of carrots or stalks of red cabbage, we cut them up and feed them to the goats (who LOVE them)

  • Make our own willow hurdles, bean poles & fencing from our coppiced willow

  • We give the goats cut willow to “strip” before we use it- they love willow leaves to eat

  • We mulch to manage weeds 

  • We don’t use any chemicals in our wood fired hot tubs and we re-use water from them on our garden & land

  • We don’t use pesticides & we choose natural alternatives for managing our crops

  • We are members of Devon Wildlife Trust & Rattery Environment Group

 

WHAT CAN YOU DO (during your stay & when you go home)? 

You can make a real difference when you; 

  • Choose local and seasonal 

  • Buy only the food that you need rather than too much which gets wasted

  • Choose not to buy items wrapped in single use plastic containers

  • Choose instead, cardboard wrapped or paper wrapped or even better, not wrapped at all- shops like Ben’s, Annies or stalls on Totnes Market all sell loose food you don’t need to bag.

  • Use refill shops- almost every town has at least one 

  • Refill a metal or bamboo water bottle

  • Refill bamboo hot cups for coffee/tea and don’t be fooled by “compostable” takeaway cups which usually end up in landfill

  • If you do have takeaway cardboard containers, clean all food waste from them and recycle. 

  • Clean and sort your recycling

  • Make sure the freezer door is shut properly and don’t turn the fridge up too high

  • Turn off lights & heating when you go out

  • Only use radiators for as long as needed

  • Boil only the water you need in the kettle for that use

  • Turn off the TV rather than leaving it on standby

  • Don’t leave your phone charging overnight- give it a blast in the morning and use solar energy from the PVs

  • Avoid products that are harmful to the environment (sprays, chemical based products, pesticides, products grown using chemicals)

  • Buy quality over quantity or buy secondhand

  • Avoid disposables- especially BBQs & plastic bottles

  • Cycle, walk, use public transport wherever you can


Download the Full Green Values Guide here 

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