THE FARM

We moved here from Gloucestershire in September 2012 and have since cleared the 1950’s buildings and converted the original steading buildings into our 2 holiday cottages, The Byre, which is a three bedroom fully disabled accessible cottage that sleeps up to six people and the Stables which has two bedrooms and sleeps up to four people.

The Steading conversions were started in 2013 and completed in 2019. We have reused as much of the original building material as possible including the roof slates,  toppers, ridges and most of the stonework . It was important for us to employ local builders, joiners, plumbers and electricians.

The Farm is small by modern standards 125 acres (50 ha). We are a livestock farm and run Aberdeen Angus beef cattle and Vendeen sheep, we also grow about 6 acres of root crops and we make hay and haylage in the summer to feed our animals in the winter .

We are very aware of the importance of being Eco Friendly and we recycle all our farm plastics which go to be made into other products.

We have recently planted 1.32 hectares of mixed species woodland to widen our Bio Diversity, reduce our carbon footprint and to add to our existing 5.16 Hectares of woodland. We encourage wildlife with minimal use of sprays, so you will find the odd weed growing in the gravel by the cottage and we also grow 0.4 Hectares of Bird Winter Seed crop to help feed the song bird population.

We have planted new hedges and some more trees in field courners to increase the Bio Diversity for the wildlife as well as providing shelter for our livestock . We use a grass based feeding system for both Cattle and Sheep with minimal bought in outside feed.

OUR ACTIONS

The steadings are insulated to modern standards, with all rooms being individually temperature controlled and use energy efficient LED lights throughout both cottages. We encourage guests to set rooms temperatures to suit their requirements but not to waste heat or light.

Water comes from our own supply, which is regularly tested, and is treated with a UV filter instead of Chlorine, it is pure Scottish Spring Water, (you will not need to buy bottled water for your stay). Toilets are fitted with flush restriction devices to reduce water consumption. All waste water/sewage is treated in a Aeration plant. We have water butts to collect rainwater which we use for watering the containers round the yard.

Bag it and Bin it. We advise guests not to flush anything other than toilet paper down the toilet.

Bed linen and towels are line dried where possible and we use Ecover Cleaning products – Healthy for the Environment.

Logs for the wood burners come from our own woodland and the electricity is from EDF energy – the largest supplier of Low Carbon generated electricity in the country, we added an Electric Car charging point in 2019 and were one of the first holiday cottages , if not the first in the area to provide one and encourage our guests to use public transport where possible. We also have a number of Bicycles guests can use, ideal for popping down to our local shop.

We Recycle Glass , Rigid Plastic, Metal, Paper and Cardboard at the cottages and there is also a food waste bin.

We support local business by using local suppliers and contractors including a locally sourced welcome pack and we promote our Local pubs, Restaurants and visitor attractions including Castles , Distilleries , Museums , Beaches and of course the beautiful countryside. We also support local producers of food in the surrounding towns and villages such as Deans Shortbread, the Fish Man who calls at the farm on a Friday afternoon and the mobile Fish and Chip Van which is in the village on the second Saturday of the month.

The Garage in the village as well as providing fuel and full garage services also stock a good range of essential groceries and everyday items as well as daily papers which avoids the need for traveling further for small amounts of groceries.