Our carbon footprint and sustainability

Here are some of the ways in which we have already reduced our C02 emissions, some of the ways in which we have made ourselves more sustainable, as well as plans we have for future improvements.

How we reduce the carbon footprint of our Pool & Farmhouse to promote sustainability

To see the Renewable Energy 4 Devon Middle Coombe Farm case study click here plus click here for the 80 Khw wood boiler case study.

We are very contented with our newly installed Wood Boiler replacing 95% of all our heating for gas and oil in all our buildings, massively reducing our Co2 emissions, together with not having to worry again in winter when the roads become blocked with snow and we can not get the fuel tanks on site down our steep hill!

Now that we have established our new sustainable fire logs business, we supply our holiday-let farmhouse, courtyard fireplace and stone circle fire with firewood for open fires, with all our own sustainable wood.

See our firewood case study here.

We generate a portion of our own electricity for the main farm house using a 5.5kw photovoltaic generator.

Solar panels heat the swimming pool.Our swimming pool is solar heated, and we use a floatron device which reduces chemical use in the pool.  The same solar tubes which heat the pool are switched over each winter when the pool closes down.

We have changed over to green suppliers of electricity both Good Energy and Ecotricity; We are still looking at wind power generation,  ground source heat pumps to become even more sustainable with our electricity this is our last main energy item on our list of renewables*. These technologies tends to be very expensive and grants are now a thing of the past  despite our politicians’ claims to be green at heart.

But, you don’t have to be rich to be green!

*Renewable energy is energy which comes from natural resources such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides and geothermal heat, which are renewable (naturally replenished).

Small & Affordable Changes

Our aim has been to improve where possible many small things so that when you put them all together they make a difference. We challenged ourselves in doing this to work as much as possible with reusable/recyclable materials. In some cases we had to purchase new, due to this house being a 3½ star holiday let – but here we are telling you about the cheaper options in the hope that you may use them.

 

The Furniture

Luckily Alice and Brian Malyon were avid collectors of antiques – cheap when they purchased them – so most of the furniture has been in Coombe Farm House for many years, and who knows where before that! Brian and Alice used mainly to purchase the furniture from nearby Bampton in the antique furniture shop which is sadly no longer. However, we have found our own antique furniture,  shop here in Tiverton which we were slow to visit, thinking it would be very expensive – surprise, surprise Corner House Antiques is not, and I would advise you to check out places like this, also local second hand shops, markets, boot sales, ebay etc. before purchasing anything new. What better way to reuse and recycle; kitchen tables, beautiful old bed frames, bedside lockers, chairs, coffee tables, wardrobes, chests of drawers…

  • The latest addition to this list is “Freecycle” with our local sustainable villages group.
  • We have a new policy now to check these places before purchasing any piece of furniture.
  • We clean all our old furniture with Beeswax, made locally (having first stripped it down with vinegar).
    • There is nothing that will come near using beeswax, it’s the best and the smell is amazing.

 

Insulation for Windows and Doors

Window and door insulation is quite a problem for a Grade II star listed building. Double glazing is rarely feasible/permitted. So back to basics! We have covered all our main outlets i.e large doors and windows which are very draughty, with thick quilted/padded bedspreads which we converted into curtains. It appears to have done the trick.

Due to the cob building material – clay and aggregate and straw – which the walls are built of, we can’t in some places hang anything too heavy so we have put a second curtain in the window sill itself, just hanging on hooks simply so that in Summer it can be removed and in Winter it gives that extra layer of protection.

Handy hint – sewing/attaching a blanket onto the back of an existing curtain can provide that extra layer of insulation – you don’t have to exchange your existing curtains to do this. The charity shops have a great supply of blankets. By the way blinds are a no, no. They can look pretty but have no insulating properties.

The Bedrooms

Use hot water bottles instead of electric blankets. Using two is a great ‘snuggle-up’ especially if it is very cold. All our beds have quilts and thick quilted bedspreads. We have extra quilts and quilted bedspreads in every room. Save on electricity and the risk of potential fires that you’d have with electric blankets.

The Bathrooms

Showers and Baths

  • It’s an old house so full of big old baths!
  • A shower uses 1/3 water of what a bath uses!
  • For now we have put in hand held showers in two of the baths as it is not possible to put in stand up showers due to the positioning of the plumbing. We have put in a stand up shower in the other third bathroom upstairs and also downstairs we have built a new bathroom with a standalone shower instead of a bath. We have also done this in the annex bathroom – it has a standalone shower.
  • We provide a baby bath so you can save on water when bathing the little ones!

Towels

  • We have purchased organic cotton towels to replace the existing ones as and when necessary.
  • The guests use the same hand towel and bath towel for the duration of their stay except those staying for two weeks
    • we change them weekly in that case.

Toilets

  • All of the new toilets have the option to do a half flush or a full flush thus saving water –
    • handy hint, you can put a block/plastic bottle into the cistern and it will reduce the water volume for flushing.
  • Our toilet paper “ecoleaf toilet tissue” is recycled and is purchased from Suma or various other ecological providers. Having read an excellent article in Ethical Consumer about toilet papers, we changed over due to this brand.

Soaps & Air Deodoriser

Our soaps and our air freshener/deodoriser are purchased from Neways by mail order. They do not contain any sodium lauryl sulphate or any other nasty chemicals – see leaflets on this for more information. We also purchase soap from “faith in nature” which are only 70% organic and also from Ecover, both of which we can source locally from the health food shop.

Bathroom Cleaning

We clean all our toilets, sinks ,baths, showers, shower cabinets, floors with the Enjo cleaning equipment. We find these absolutely brilliant.

  • If we feel anything needs an extra debugging we will use the old reliable lemon and vinegar mix.
  • We used this method for everything until we discovered the Enjo products.
    • The Enjo system uses the fibres to cling onto the dirt until they’re washed out with water;  No chemicals involved.

The washer and dryer

In the washing machine we use Ecoballs.
In the dryer we use dryer balls. We encourage you to use the clothes line for free wind and heat when it is not raining.

Both machines will be replaced with top rating energy efficiency machines when they are due for renewal.

The kitchen

Recycling – see all the separate containers for doing this. Please bear in mind to squash up everything as small as possible, thus reducing the space for landfill.

Compost – the “Johanna Composting Bin” takes all  raw fruit and vegetables, meat and fish; guests do not need to separate them anymore.

Kitchen-Cleaning

All eco products and equipment are used here.

The dishwasher has been replaced with a new top energy efficiency rating one.

 

Food & Cooking

Organic Coombe beef

Meat the way it used to be from our organically grown happy cows – why not try our Coombe farm beef.

Coombe’s Organic Cider

Nothing added but all local apples, pressed in our renovated Cider Press in the barn two years of very successful cider and sold at our Green Eco Weddings – guests are also happy to purchase same from us. We usually leave a sample bottle for them on their arrival.

Onsite Cook:

Don’t feel like cooking now you are on holiday?
Don’t want the hassle of a large group going out to dinner, pre-booking and organising for people to drive and who can’t have a drink?
Or maybe you really want to stay at home and not have to cook – well you can, no hassle. Just ring and organise Lucie to come and do it for you. In the well-equipped kitchen of Middle Coombe farm she will cook at your request whatever you want! Vegetarian and meat!

Lucie is our local cook, who will come to Middle Coombe Farm to cook for your group whether it’s a breakfast, lunch, dinner, BBQ, celebration dinners, parties etc.

it is very useful to have Lucie on the first night of your holiday if you want to wait and shop locally the next day; Or simply if you don’t have enough space in your car or you have come by train/bus and don’t want to carry more bags etc.

Contact Lucie Moore – tel: 01398 332011, e-mail: lucie@one-body.co.uk

Mobile Pizza Party – highly innovative and fantastically successful at Coombe, is  Georgios Pizza’s, locally made organic dough bases with mouth watering toppings; the mobile unit arrives on site with its wood fired oven installed in the boot of the shell of a car and in the bonnet is the fridge for all their toppings.  This has to be seen to be believed – George and Aurora have started this business and are already booked at lots of the green eco weddings for 2011 & 2012. Pictures to follow shortly, watch this space.  Website: www.giorgiospizzas.co.uk

 

Where to shop locally

There are two good local farm shops with directions available from the farmhouse book. They have no organic ranges but all is local and mostly grown or reared on site.

Little Turberfield Farm Shop – Locally produced meat, poultry and vegetables; Homemade sausages and burgers; Freshly baked pies and pasties; Soft drinks.  On the left hand side of the road down to Tiverton Parkway Station.  Open Tues – Thurs 8am-5pm, Fri and Sat.  Closed Mon and Sun.  8am-5.30pm.  Tel: 01884 820908.  Click here for directions.

Tiverton Pannier Market – General Market days are Tuesday, Friday and Saturday.  There are around 40 different traders in this market, from someone selling a pile of socks to a tractor!  There are stalls such as a make your own wine stall, fishmonger, several fruit and veg suppliers, many of which take their food from local farms as near as 1.5 miles from the market itself.  This means that the food purchased from these retailers is very fresh, having been picked the day before or maybe even that mroning.

Saturdays are excellent for organic fruit and veg from the local National Trust property Knightshayes Court walled gardens. They usually do cookery demonstrations at the stall. Fridays have a fresh fish stall.

Tiverton is historically a market town and has won awards over the years for this. It was renovated a year ago. You will find it in the centre of the town in the ‘Market Car Park’.  The Tiverton Market is in the centre of the historic town of Tiverton, this comes from many centuries ago when what is now the Tiverton Pannier market, was originally the site of a Roman encampment.  Website: www.tiverton-market.co.uk

Reapers health food shop is on the main street in Tiverton, they also supple delicious home made breads and pies etc.

The Jolly Vintner always gives us excellent deals on our wine and spirit purchases – just tell him you are staying at Tim & Angela’s Middle Coombe farm and doubtless he will be as obliging to you. Rory’s tel. No 01884.255644 and is located at 22 Westexe North, in Tiverton.  Website: www.jollyvintner.co.uk

For the gardeners Cove Nursery is a great place to go and buy organic seeds, exotic plants from their nursery, and then have a cup of coffee in their cafe.  www.covegardennursery.co.uk

Halberton Farm shop is a 10 min drive – all veg grown onsite as its their own farm.  Click here for directions and opening times.

Coombe farm organic garden

Banking/Purchasing

We bank with Triodos,  the ethical sustainable bank; click here for more information.

When purchasing, before buying from just anywhere we check with Bartercard first.  Bartercard is a barter trading exchange, it’s the largest in the world.  It works on the original principal of the ancient times when people used to trade a potatoe for a chair.  It enables member businesses to exchange good and services with other member businesses without using cash or cash equivalents, or having to engage in the direct two-way swap of goods and/or services, saving valuable cash and increasing profits.