Sustainability
“Surely it is our responsibility to do everything within our power to create a planet that provides a home not just for us, but for all life on Earth” – Sir David Attenborough
At Thorny Bush, we understand the importance of sustainability and its impact on the local area and environment. We are committed to making all aspects of our operations more sustainable, and we will continuously seek new methods to improve our environmental practices
The woodland at Thorny Bush had been neglected for many years, with overgrowth of trees, fern and brambles not allowing the woodland floor to flourish. We are starting to remove the overgrowth and replace with newly grown saplings which we currently have growing onsite. We are looking at making a much better habitat for wildlife, while allowing the ground plants to grow on the woodland floor. You will see piles of branches around the wood, which have been placed there as a natural insect habitat.
We allow the main field to grow into a meadow during the spring, with a path mown around it so our guests can continue to enjoy a walk. We have installed a small wildlife pond and are currently working on planting many wildflowers around it to help even more insects and wildlife.
We pretty much leave the hedgerow areas alone as they are vital habitat for many small wild animals.
Many people have asked if we have hot tubs or if we are getting them. We feel that they are not environmentally friendly with the amount of energy and water they use and waste.
Under the HSE guidelines a hot tub has to be emptied and refilled between each guest – we are not on mains drainage so the water would have to be released into the woodland.
This is clearly not an option due to the amount of chemicals that would be in that water.
The choice of having the wood burners as the main heat supply in the cabins was an environmental one.
We remove the dead or unhelpful trees in our woodland and this is then stored and dried ready for using the following year.
Burning wood for heat does not add to our carbon footprint. Wood gives off the same amount of carbon whether it is burned up or decays naturally and is considered Carbon Neutral. Wood is a “renewable” resource unlike oil, coal, or gas – when we run out of those fuel sources, they’ll be gone for good.