Sustainability at The Cottage in the Wood

The Cottage in the Wood is dedicated to sustainability and preserving the stunning countryside in which we’re located. Our vision is to make our hotel as environmentally friendly as possible, and we’ve worked hard to make green choices wherever we can. 

We’re proud to be the first hotel in the Malvern Hills to be awarded Green Mark accreditation and always look for ways to develop our sustainable practices further.

Sustainable buildings and equipment

During The Cottage in the Wood’s refurbishment programme in 2018, the electrics were replaced with energy saving equipment and all lighting was changed to LED. All four boilers were replaced with the most efficient, energy saving models available. In addition, our kitchen now uses new energy saving cookers and fans.

The Coach House has 19 bedrooms constructed out of carbon neutral wood, and the insulation is recycled newspaper. The specialist design of the building enables much more efficient insulation, meaning the building can cope with a heating system that is 50% smaller. This has a huge impact on reducing our carbon footprint.

We’ve diligently followed the guidance issued by Malvern Hills AONB Partnership, for example by making sure the external lighting we use minimises light pollution and preserves the beauty of the night sky.

The hotel grounds

Our grounds have been developed with wildlife in mind, featuring specially constructed habitat areas to encourage birds, animals and insects to nest on the grounds.

We have regular habitat inspections that ensure local flora and fauna can thrive in our outdoor spaces.

Sustainable room and restaurant practices

We encourage guests at The Cottage in the Wood to share our commitment to sustainability. We encourage less frequent towel changes to reduce water usage. We’ve also removed all small, disposable plastic toiletry bottles in bedrooms, replacing these with re-fillable bottles instead from a local supplier with a similar ethos to our own.

As part of our refurbishment, we removed baths from the majority of rooms, replacing these with efficient showers that use 30% less water.

Behind the scenes, our housekeeping team use only eco-friendly cleaning products and we encourage recycling wherever we can.

All cardboard and glass bottles are recycled through our waste management company. We no longer buy in bottled water, having put in a water purifying system which creates still and sparkling water that is served in reusable and recycled glass bottles. We’ve also removed all plastic straws.

Our chefs regularly use plants and herbs foraged from our grounds, including the wild garlic and rosemary that grows abundantly around our buildings.

Suppliers

Wherever possible, we reduce our carbon footprint by using local, ethical suppliers. We carefully assess and select businesses that share the same values as us. We actively choose suppliers that operate responsibly, in a way that has a positive impact on the environment and communities. By doing this, we reduce the transportation required, we ensure the highest quality products for our guests and we help support our local economy.

The majority of the fruit and vegetables we use are grown in Worcestershire, for example the beautiful asparagus the county is famous for. We choose meat and fish suppliers who follow sustainable, ethical practices. This includes fish that are caught using small scale fishing boats and free range meat.

Our bar stocks a range of wine, spirits, cider and beer from Worcestershire and Herefordshire, as well as many products produced in the UK.

The future

Our hotel and restaurant is constantly evolving, and so are the options to reduce our impact on the environment. We are always looking for new ways to encourage sustainability and our future plans are developed with this clearly in our mind.

We’re currently developing plans to install electric charging points in our car park, and are looking at what additional herbs and vegetables we could grow to use in the kitchen.