Little Gem Lettuce

Environmental Policy

Owners Richard and Dee Slade share their vision for maintaining Battlesteads’ reputation as the greenest hotel in Northumberland.

“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!”

Recognition

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 Credentials

The 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.

Wildlife

The 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.

Badgers, foxes, herons and red squirrels (Battlesteads is a member of the 'Save Our Squirrels' scheme) are frequently reported and a family of otters can be seen in the early morning on the river next to the bridge. In spring you can view displays of wild garlic and the most amazing vistas of bluebells - we encourage you to report any interesting sightings in our guest log.

Please ask about local walks and places of interest.

Enjoy your stay and tell us about your finds and adventures!

Richard Slade

Green at Battlesteads
Cauliflower at Battlesteads
Lettuce Little Gem at Battlesteads
Visit England Sustainable Tourism Winner 2017

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Reviews from Trip Advisor

"Very, very impressed with the hotel and staff"

"Quality hotel, quality service, quality food, quality ethics"

"This is a place where the guests still matter"

"Fabulous service and food in this wonderful family hotel"

Some of our Awards

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