The Battlesteads is one of my favourite pubs - we hold events there all the time and it is a major destination and boost to the Tourist Business of Northumberland. On Friday the Pub won the Green Pub of the Year awards at the Cateys, the leading Hotel award. My congratulations to owners Richard and Dee Slade and all the team at the pub. I saw Richard at my Green Deal workshop in Hexham on Wednesday, when he was discussing his new woodchip burning biomass boiler. If you have not been to Wark - please go - it is a special place.
Full details set out here:
http://www.battlesteads.com/
For reasons as to why The Battlesteads won I give you a flavour below of their Environmental Policy:
“We are committed to providing the greenest possible environment while ensuring the maximum comfort for our guests. We hope you share our appreciation of locally sourced food, consideration of our individual carbon footprint, joy of wildlife and the natural flaura and fauna of Northumberland.
“Our ethos is that it’s always better to work with the environment than to fight against it. Northumberland is one of the least spoiled areas of the country in terms of traffic impact, light pollution and urban sprawl - let’s keep it that way!”
Battlesteads proudly holds a Gold Award from the Green Tourism Business Scheme and is highly rated in the popular Alistair Sawday Guides to both the UK and Europe. In 2010, the hotel was crowned Best Green Pub and Great British Pub of the Year as well as scooping the Gold Award for Sustainable Tourism in the North East Tourism Awards.
Green CredentialsThe use of low-energy light bulbs throughout means that the whole hotel now uses less energy for lighting than the bar area alone did in 2006.
An innovative woodchip-burning biomass boiler supplies heating and hot water to the entire hotel using sustainable fuel from forestry only one mile away, meaning virtually zero fuel miles!
The surplus heat generated is used to heat two polytunnels, which provide herbs and salad vegetables even in winter months. We also have herb gardens and salad gardens on either side of the main garden area and we plant soft fruits and root vegetables in our kitchen garden throughout the year. Rainwater is captured in a huge tank to provide water for the entire garden and planters.
WildlifeThe walled garden visible from the conservatory is specially planted to encourage wildlife - the boiler house has a bat box and an owl box, we have lots of bird-feeders to encourage the many smaller species in the area. See how many you can identify - we have binoculars in the conservatory to help you.
And if you want to see Red Squirrels and stay in a nice setting - this is the place.