Sustainability Policy

Griffon Forest Holiday lodges and Sandburn Hall are set on a 1000-acre country estate.  We are passionate about caring for our surroundings and we understand the need to protect our natural environment and its inhabitants, and to limit the day-to-day impact of our actions. We aim to follow and champion good sustainability practices, to continually work towards reducing the environmental impacts of our activities and to give something back to our local community and the environment.

• Green Tourism
  We are members of the Green Tourism scheme and have been awarded the ‘Green Tourism Bronze’ award. We are dedicated to working towards being a more sustainable business and making a positive impact on the environment and our local community.

• Food & Drink

Since we opened Tykes Restaurant at Sandburn Hall in 2005, we have been committed to working with local suppliers and serving the best local produce.  We have longstanding relationships with many local food and drinks suppliers and our menus change regularly to showcase seasonal produce.

• Energy

We have replaced the majority of lightbulbs with LED bulbs to reduce energy consumption and all new appliances are B rated or higher. We have recently installed renewable heat source heating and hot water system in Sandburn Hall and Hotel.  We monitor our energy usage and are working to lower our usage where possible.

• Plastic

We have taken steps to reduce single use plastics throughout the business. We only offer paper straws; Milk is fresh in glass bottles in our hotel bedrooms as opposed to UHT in plastic containers; all paper cups are made from recycled material; jams are in glass jars as opposed to plastic containers and refillable soap dispensers in public areas.

• Recycling & Waste

We recycle glass, plastic, paper, card, food and tins. We have clearly marked recycle bins for our customers to do the same at Griffon Forest.  Our waste collection supplier processes food waste which cannot be consumed is through anaerobic digestion facilities to produce Biogas, and material that cannot be recycled is incinerated to create electricity.

• Landscape

We care for our surroundings and take action to benefit the landscape and wildlife including:

• Sowing wildflower meadows
• We have created lakes, making wildfowl habitats
• Leaving long rough grass in some areas of the golf course to benefit wildlife
• Creating woodland areas, encouraging wildlife and helping the environment
• Bird boxes set up around the woods, badgers setts monitored by cameras which play on TV screens at Griffon Forest
• We have a Countryside Stewardship Agreement in place and ecological and bird surveys are undertaken to monitor habitat and species.
• A woodland management plan is in currently being undertaken.

• Community

We regularly support local charities and organisations through raffle donations and sponsorship.

• Suppliers
  We work with our suppliers to reduce the impact of our supply chain and to encourage them to develop environmental best practice.

Reviewed: March 2024

This policy will be reviewed regularly to evaluate its continued relevance and to monitor our progress.