Green Policy

Our ecological management covers everything you would expect from buying and using products and energy, to running our business and our home, and disposing of packaging and waste. We pride ourselves on being as environmentally friendly as possible simply because we love our wonderful environment, and we want it to stay that way so that our visitors can enjoy it too.

What have we done?

Water will be saved by means of captured rainwater. There is already separate water pipes to the washing machines and toilets, ready to go online as soon as the reclaimed water tanks are installed.

Food for our B&B guests is purchased with quality and low food-miles in mind. We buy all our meat from multi-award winning local butcher Bert Fowlie of Strichen. We use our own home-grown eggs when we have enough to go round, and occasionally supplement them with freerange eggs from the local shops.

Products are purchased with the view to minimising packaging at source. As an example, mushrooms and apples are bought loose if possible, rather than in plastic trays. Necessary packaging is either reused if possible, or recycled.

Wildlife benefits a little from our small efforts, like the supply of food and water during the winter months. As the nearest fresh water is about a mile away in the Loch of Strathbeg, we also supply fresh water during the dry summer months so that small birds don't need to fly so far just for a drink. Future plans include the construction of a wildlife pond to provide that fresh water, and also to provide a safe haven for some of the thousands of tadpoles that die in the winter pools that dry out during the summer. There are a few nesting birds in the garden, so we allow the gorse to grow in some areas to give a good supply of ground cover for their nests.

Electricity is supplied by Scottish Hydro Electric under the green Power2 tariff. This means they allocate hydro-electricity to cover our electricity usage, and they also plant 12 trees on our behalf every year to offset our household CO2 production.

We save energy and CO2 production by not ironing bedding. It's a bit radical we know, but obviously everything is laundered for guests, it's just rather wrinkled (unfortunately we know how that feels). Why on earth waste energy and time ironing sheets that look very smart for the days while nobody is around, and for a few minutes on your arrival? From the moment you get into bed, and for the rest of your stay, they look wrinkled anyway. So we say,

"Enjoy the wrinkles - you don't get them everywhere".

Low energy lighting is used throughout, and PIR sensor controlled lighting in stairs and hallways not only reduces electricity consumption, but is an added convenience for guests who don't need to look for lightswitches in the dark.

Central heating and hot water is supplied by our Solo Innova 50KW log boiler from Baxi of Denmark and a 2400 litre heat store tank from Akvaterm of Finland. The beauty of this manually fed boiler is that we can make use of a free wood supply from local builders' yards in the form of pallets. There is a lot of manual work involved in transporting the pallets to our home, chain-sawing them into useable lengths, storing in the log shed, and loading the boiler once daily. However, this hard work repays itself in several ways; we no longer use expensive LPG for our heating which contributes to CO2 production, we have a carbon-neutral heat source that reduces our expenditure of CO2 and cash, we burn the waste wood that businesses would otherwise burn or dump into landfill at a cost to both the business and the environment.

What can you do?

Poop-Scoops sponsored by Aberdeenshire Council are supplied for our four-legged guests. It is acceptable practice to simply push the waste into a small hole using a stick or your shoe, then cover with soil. It will break down harmlessly beneath the soil and doesn't cause a nuisance to other visitors. If that is not possible, then please please use the poop-scoop provided and deposit it in our Poop-Cone just inside the front gate. Don't be embarrassed when dealing with your dog's waste - others will see you as a responsible dog owner and may even say 'well done - good for you'. We ourselves are responsible dog owners, and hate to see beauty spots like Rattray Head being spoilt by thoughtless visitors.
(A small contribution of 10p or 15p towards the cost of the poop-scoop would be very much appreciated. Many thanks, Rob & Val.)

Recycling is so easy, just put waste into the correct bin as follows:
All cans, plastic and glass containers, should be rinsed and placed in the recycle bin without their tops.
Paper and cardboard should be put in the recycle bin too.
Raw and cooked waste food should be put in the compost bin.
Plastic wrapping, polystyrene trays, etc should be put in the rubbish bin.

Energy saving is such a small but important step. Simply turn off lights and radiators when they aren't needed, but do make sure you are comfortable. Tip: A guest should open the window or the radiator valve, but not both.

Rattray Head's Laws of Energy:
(Does this sound familiar?)

First Law:
A guest may not be cold, or, through inaction, allow another guest to become cold.

Second Law:
A guest should save energy by turning down the radiators, except where such action would conflict with the First Law.

Third Law:
A guest must protect their own comfort as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.