Lambing time

Our 'mini flock' of Lleyn ewes are almost bursting (!) at the seams, so we're on lambing standby again for the Easter holidays, albeit a week or so later than in 2016. Rearing sheep isn't our 'daytime job' by any stretch of the imagination, but is an incredibly rewarding pastime which keeps the fields in good condition and adds some diversity to our smallholding, yet can be quite a stressful rollercoaster ride at this time of year!

The lambs are 'fattened' here during the spring and summer, then typically sold around November, when the whole process is repeated with the arrival of the tup to 'serve' the same ewes.

Charge your car with the sun!

We've recently boosted our green energy production with a further 60 solar panels on the two 'hangars', so we now produce almost as much electricity as we use over a year at the farm!

Problem is, we don't always need the 23kW of power we can generate on an early afternoon in May, our house and cottages being super-insulated and designed to make the most of the sun through their large windows and hot water heating solar thermal panels. So surplus power goes back to the grid...until now!

Gold Award for Green Tourism

Earlier this year, here at East Cambusmoon Holiday Cottages, we successfully retained our Gold Award from Green Tourism UK, their highest assessment standard. There are 60 rigorous criteria used to assess businesses in this international award scheme and Steve and I perused, studied and fretted over all of them!

No greenwash permitted, the organisation and their assessors really know their stuff. We have always aimed for the highest environmental and sustainable standards for the cottages and we are chuffed to bits to have received the Gold Award (we managed to secure a score of over 90%!) Categories for assessment include energy and water management, transport and travel, nature and culture. Since our assessment we have installed electric vehicle charging points so continuing our endeavours and offering even more to guests.

Another year on....!

Ok, so when we set up this blog the intention was to do 'regular'ish' new posts on developments at East Cambusmoon....the last year blog wise was rather infrequent, and it is now just over a year since our last post! Well, there's been much happening here in the last 12 months, so much so that we've had little time to report it!

The holiday cottages have been getting busier not just because of the summer, but also due to the great feedback we've had from our guests to whom we are extremely grateful for taking the time to do so. We were also over the moon to be awarded 'Gold' accreditation by the Green Tourism Business Scheme last November and strive to improve our sustainability credentials without compromising on quality.

But blogs are very much about the 'now', so what's the latest?