Our Green Policy

What are we doing at Firwood? Firwood's water supply is from a spring in the hills and given that the summers are getting drier (yes, honestly! ) and even our last two winters have seen less rain and very little snow, we would like to conserve this resource as much as possible. This means our showers are NOT power showers, they can deplete the reservoir in one go! A power shower can use as much water as a full bath - even more depending on the time a person takes in the shower. We would also like to cut down on the amount of detergent that goes into the waterways after being processed by the septic tank - we have a very rich and diverse wildlife population here.

At the B&B we also clean, where appropriate, using environmentally friendly products and in some instances have gone back to the 'old' methods. Vinegar (not the brown stuff you put on your chips) is marvellous when mixed with water for cleaning all sorts of things- windows, mirrors, baths to name but a few. We also find that the new breed of micro fibre cloths is brilliant, use it dry to shine or dampened to wipe away dust.

We re-cycle as much as possible - hence the supermarket carrier bags in your waste bin! Berwick Council have now made this a lot easier for us as they have provided a blue re-cycling bin. We still take glass bottles to the bottle banks in Wooler.

To help provide clean air quality, we are a totally no smoking establishment but of course you are quite welcome to smoke in the garden. We apologise in advance for any down draughts from the coal fire!

To try to minimise movement of goods and to support the local community, we source locally in Northumberland where possible. Local produce is used in our breakfast and we try to minimise waste. Our bar soap is is a pure vegetable soap with organic Aloe Vera with minimum packaging. We couldn't find a supplier of shower gel and shampoo etc. on our doorstep but hopefully we have got the next best thing. We have teemed up with a company from Cumbria called Pure Lakes www.purelakes.co.uk They make a range of natural skin and body care using a traditional soap recipe that has been used for more than 2000 years. They promise to be Eco-friendly, using natural ingredients from ethical, sustainable sources, no SLS, Parabens or Petrochemicals, no animal testing and minimum packaging, recyclable or biodegradable. - and their toiletries are very nice indeed! We do our bit by buying in bulk and re-filling the bottles in the bathrooms. When empty, the bulk containers are then sent back to be re-filled or recycled. We are also looking at a variety of local crafts that we can offer for sale at Firwood to help support artists in business.

The use of energy is a big issue. We use low energy light bulbs where lights are going to be left on for any length of time and we try not to leave electrical appliances on standby. Mike and I try to only boil the necessary amount of water in kettles and again, only use the washing machines and dishwasher on full loads. Why not leave your car at Firwood one day and walk into Wooler? Bikes can be hired locally, at Haugh Head Garage, Haugh Head, Wooler 01668 281687, the local roads in Northumberland are still in the main, quiet enough to make cycling a pleasure and at the B and B, we are just a stone's throw from a cycle route (N0. 68 if anyone is interested).

We support the Northumberland Wildlife Trust http://www.nwt.org.uk and have put in place measures in our own garden to help wildlife. There are quite a number of bird nesting boxes in our woods, we have a couple of feeding stations and we leave seed heads on plants until we do our spring tidy. You will also find log and brash piles in the woods - good hiding places for all sorts of things, Wrens, stoats, hedgehogs, insects, to name just a few. You will find ladybird towers around the garden in the borders and hopefully lacewing and bee sanctuaries will be added before too long. We try to garden without the use of chemicals and in the main, succeed. (We sometimes have to spray off the gravel, haven't yet found a foolproof method for that). The garden is also visited by Red Squirrels, so we have three feeding boxes just for them and a new addition this year, two nest boxes. These are a trial and it will be interesting to see what happens. Mike now tries to cut the hedges out of the breeding season and I am looking at an area for wild flowers and a natural wet land using the run off from the house.

We still have a long way to go and there are a number of jobs pending for this year but we hope that you can appreciate the start we have made. Any comments and feedback would be greatly appreciated.