I'm delighted to announce that Exmoor House is one of the top 12 in the country, out of 425 businesses assessed by Green Tourism last year - earning us one of their Best Performer 2008 awards. Unfortunately, we couldn't get to the awards ceremony, which was in London, but we've received our certificate - now proudly displayed on the wall in our hallway. A press photographer came to see us last week so there should be some pics of us clutching the certificate appearing in Exmoor National Park publications sometime soon!
Here's a copy of the media release I sent out about the award:
National green award for West Somerset guest house
Exmoor House, a small guest house and restaurant at Wheddon Cross, has received a Best Performer 2008 award from Green Tourism. This accolade makes it one of the top 12 in the country out of 425 businesses assessed by Green Tourism last year. The award recognises energy performance, green grading and efforts by Exmoor House owners Rosi Davis and Frank Velander as Green Ambassadors for sustainable tourism in England.
‘We were delighted to achieve a Silver grading from Green Tourism’, says Rosi. ‘We’re even more delighted to have gained this special award. It's always been very important to us to operate in an environmentally-friendly way. To me it's common sense to try and make as little adverse impact on the planet as possible and not to waste resources. We’re now working on the suggestions in our assessment report, and have introduced some new ideas of our own. There is always more we can do though. We’ll try to go for a Gold award next!’
The green assessment takes into account every aspect of the business. An important factor is helping to sustain the local economy – something Frank and Rosi are passionate about. ‘We pride ourselves on serving great homemade food to our guests, using good quality ingredients and buying local wherever we can’, says Frank. ‘There are some excellent producers and suppliers round here, who we’re glad to support’.
The couple found the assessment process very user-friendly, with plenty of support available throughout. They won a very helpful pre-assessment visit from an Envision SW consultant (courtesy of SW Tourism and the RDA). SWT also contributed towards their Green Tourism membership fee. Exmoor National Park Authority’s Sustainable Economy Department gave a grant from the Keeping Exmoor Special fund and provided advice and information.
