Millbrook Cottages sits within a working estate in North Devon — and we feel the weight of that privilege every day. Our commitment to the environment shapes everything from the products we use to the people we employ. We focus on:
- Protecting the natural landscape and wildlife on the estate
- Conserving energy and water
- Minimising waste through recycling and composting
- Choosing suppliers and products that share our values
We also ask our guests to join us in these efforts — small things like turning off lights, recycling and respecting the countryside really do add up.
🌱 Our Environmental Commitment
Millbrook Cottages pledges to:
- Train all team members in eco-friendly practices
- Share information with guests about how to reduce their environmental impact during their stay
- Comply with all relevant environmental legislation
- Monitor and regularly update our environmental action plan
- Continuously look for improvements — including reducing standby energy consumption across the estate
🔄 Key Areas for Continuous Improvement
We keep a close eye on:
- Energy efficiency across all holiday cottages and estate buildings
- Water usage and waste management
- Waste reduction and recycling rates
- Our tree planting and land management programme
- Prioritising A-rated appliances and energy-efficient equipment when replacing items
🔌 EV Chargers
We have a Type 2 Voltshare EV charger available for guests on site — ideal if you're arriving in an electric vehicle. See the VOLTSHARE app for current pricing. All four of us on the Green Team drive EVs, so we wanted to make this easy for guests too.
♻️ Reduce / Reuse / Recycle
Day to day, this is how we put it into practice:
- Weekly benchmarking of electricity, water and refuse across the estate
- Sensor-activated lighting with low-wattage bulbs throughout
- Biodigester for on-site sewage treatment — no mains drainage required
- Recycling, composting and reusing wherever possible
- Village FreeCycle Facebook Group to promote sharing within our local community
- Guests are encouraged to donate any unused food to local food banks
- Our hot tubs are high-insulation models, refilled with water heated by our biomass boiler
- Garden watering is drawn from our on-site well rather than mains supply
💚 Meet Our Green Team
Kate and Bob, alongside Nicola and Meg, are the driving force behind our green initiatives at Millbrook. The team meets monthly to review progress, introduce new ideas and keep sustainability front and centre in how the estate is run.
It's not just policy — it's personal. Meg walks to work. Kate, Bob and Nicola all drive electric vehicles. Estate maintenance equipment — including strimmers and leaf blowers — is predominantly electric, so even the day-to-day upkeep of the grounds is as low-impact as we can make it.
🌐 Web Hosting
Even our website is green. We host with Krystal, who run on 100% renewable energy — so every page load is as clean as we can make it.
🌬️ Renewables
We've invested significantly in on-site renewable energy generation:
- Over 10kW of solar PV panels, covering around 80% of our annual electricity usage
- Tesla Powerwall battery for storing surplus solar energy
- 5kW wind turbine — between this and the solar, we're close to 100% renewable energy annually
- 100kW ETA wood pellet biomass boiler for heating across the estate
🛒 Supplier & Buying Policy
We try to buy locally and thoughtfully wherever we can:
- We prioritise local and British products across the board
- Environmentally friendly products — FSC-certified toilet paper, SMOL, and Violets for laundry
- Green cleaning products throughout; we avoid bleach entirely
- Linen is supplied by Buckleigh Linen — a North Devon family business that's been trading since 1893
🏆 Our Awards
We're proud to have been recognised for our sustainability work:
- Gold for Sustainable Tourism, Devon Tourism Awards 2017
- Enjoyed in Devon award, Devon Environmental Business Initiative (DEBI)
- Nominations for South West Tourism Awards and Visit England Awards
