Highcliffe House Environmental Policy

Highcliffe House is set amongst a landscape of outstanding natural beauty within the conservation area of a national park on the coast of Exmoor, North Devon. The unspoilt beauty and diversity of the area is well documented and there is great emphasis from the National Park Authority to help it stay that way.

This Victorian house is set in an acre of garden and natural woodland above Lynton & Lynmouth with every room having magnificent views across the sea to South Wales. Half the garden is tended and planted with Victorian shrubs and trees for the enjoyment of our guests although the almost vertical lawn area can be a little challenging. The other half of the garden is left to natural woodland having tall trees with bird feeders and many wild flowers making it a wonderful habitat for birds, squirrels, dormice and if you are lucky enough to see them a family of foxes.

Our wild flowers are plentiful and protected and by the National Park, we are not permitted to cut the grass in the spring until they have died down. Our hedges are also protected and cannot be disturbed until the birds have finished nesting.

When we came to Highcliffe in 2004, we started an ongoing refurbishment programme in consideration of our personal carbon footprint. We purchased new A & AA grade appliances for the kitchen refit and our heating & hot water is supplied by two modern high efficiency oil fired boilers (Lynton & Lynmouth is without a gas supply). We are on a water meter and our heating and hot water are on timers to maximise times when guests are in the house and off when guests are out midday. All rooms have thermostatic controls on the radiators for guests comfort and where practical and possible the majority of light fittings have low energy lamps.

We apply Mike’s many years of experience and professional training within energy efficiency & conservation and his work as a consultant with the Energy Saving Trust. It is important within the constraints of a period building set in a conservation area to consider our impact on the environment whilst maintaining high levels of luxury and comfort for our guests. We recycle everything that North Devon DC will collect. We have a water butt plus three compost bins for garden and organic waste and tree and shrub cuttings are chipped and shredded to put back on the garden.

We do understand that it is not always completely ideal but ask if you don’t mind pre-ordering your breakfast. This means I can offer you a greater choice, cut down on waiting time but more importantly reduce food waste. Since ceasing weekend evening meals we have reduced our associated food waste and packaging by 2 rubbish sacks per week using focused rather than ‘just in case’ ordering processes.

The standards for our 5Star grading with the AA and Visit Britain require us to change your used towels every day which we will do unless you ask us not to by leaving ones to change in the bath with the ones you want to keep folded on the rail.

All the laundry (in excess of 400 items per week high season) is contracted to a local supplier that takes pride in their environmentally friendly and efficient machines & dryers. We use local food suppliers for dry & fresh produce much of which now has to be delivered to our door to meet the environmental health requirements. Again where practical and possible we use natural products to clean your room although antibacterial products are used for your safety in the bathrooms and my kitchen. We have recently traded two personal vehicles for one efficient diesel estate which we hope will meet our needs in a remote rural area that can be challenging in the winter.

We believe it is of the utmost importance that we support our local economy and tradespersons wherever possible to sustain tourism at its best in a breathtaking and unspoilt landscape for you to enjoy and return to for many years to come.