Our carbon footprint and sustainability
How we reduce the carbon footprint of our Pool & Farmhouse to promote sustainability
We generate a portion of our own electricity for the main farm house using a 5.5kw photovoltaic generator.
Our swimming pool is solar heated.
Solar panels heat the swimming pool.
The same solar tubes which heat the pool can soon be switched over to heat water in the farmhouse.
And we use a floatron device which reduces chemical use in the pool.
We will be changing over to a green supplier of electricity once we have all the teething problems and comparisons resolved for the pool and house. We are looking hard at wind power generation, biofuels, wood boilers for central heating and hot water, more solar water heating, groundsource heat pumps and heat stores. These technologies tends to be very expensive and grants are becoming ever smaller and harder to obtain despite our politicians' claims to be green at heart.
But, you don't have to be rich to be green!
Small & Affordable Changes
Our aim has been to improve where possible many small things so that when put 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 3 & a half 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, its 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.
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.
Work in Progress:
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 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
On replacement of the existing towels we will purchase organic cotton towels.
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 "ecosoft toilet tissue" is recycled and is purchased from Suma. Having read an excellent article in Ethical Consumer re 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 but we can source them locally from the health food shop which is handy if we run out and haven't had time to mail order.
Bathroom Cleaning
We clean all our toilets, sinks ,baths, showers, shower cabinets, floors with the Enjo cleaning equipment. We find these absolutely brilliant but if you want a cheaper option then what about using vinegar.
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 washer and dryer
In the washing machine we use Eco Wash balls.
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 - there is one bin for raw fruit and vegetables only. Then there's the kobashi composter for all meat, fish, cheese, cooked food. Due to the kobashi enzyme we can put this bin back into the compost in our garden and back to mother nature.
By using the two composting units we have eliminated everything that attracts vermin and stopped cats, dogs, birds etc attacking the bins.
Kitchen-Cleaning
All eco products and equipment are used here.
The dishwasher will be replaced with a new top energy efficiency rating one once it has done this life's duty.
