Eco Centre
We are a responsible holiday business with a responsible travel policy (more in a minute) but we are also rather silly as people (again, more in a minute) and we think it's possible to combine the two.
How we're responsible
It's important to us to minimise any negative impact of our business on the environment and local community and to try to create a positive impact on both.
- We own 100 acres of woodland (pumping out oxygen and absorbing carbon dioxide) which we manage and maintain to create new tree growth and sustain the local wildlife (deer, boar, badger, fox, red squirrel, etc.)
- We use solar energy to heat our water and the house (in the winter) and the water comes from our well (when sufficient). Advice is given on how to conserve this limited supply: so guests are encouraged to have only one shower and to take it late afternoon (when the water has been heated by the sun, rather than gas).
- Glass, plastic, paper/card and printer cartridges are recycled, and we have a paper free policy for enquiries and bookings (ie. internet/email only).
We also support the local community. We employ local people (where possible) and encourage our partner companies (e.g. if extra accommodation is needed) to do the same.
- Our local staff include those who advise and guide on visits into the local community and inform guests of local events and traditions so that they can offer support (eg. craft fairs, markets, carnival events, saints' days celebrations, local village fairs etc.)
- For any work that we do (like building work) we use local building companies and local suppliers.
- We source food locally wherever possible. Beds etc. are purchased from local factories and guests are encouraged to purchase locally from farms, shops, restaurants, etc.
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What about flights to your place then?
It's worth thinking seriously about flying and how you take your holidays. And start doing a bit of 'shifting':
- If you've been taking cheap flights for short breaks in Europe, why not shift to weekends in the UK?
- If you fly long-haul for holidays, consider staying in Europe
- And when you do fly, go to places that are responsible when it comes to the environment.
Of course, we would say that, wouldn't we? We're a holiday business in Italy so we're not going to say 'don't fly here'. But it's what we believe. Please shift your behaviour, but you don't have to desist. It's what we're doing.
If you prefer to look at non-flight options for getting here, please do. We can help you if you need it.
And lastly, our main message at The Hill is to relax around everything.
Relax about global warming.
Relax and make conscious important decisions about how you behave.
It's better to be a relaxed shifter than an uptight desister.
For you and everybody else.
And - in the end - for this beautiful planet that we live on and are part of.
How we're silly
You've probably picked this up by now, but we are light-hearted at The Hill That Breathes. It never gets us anywhere by taking things too seriously (even impending world catastrophes). In fact, we believe most pain is caused by placing too much meaning on things that don't matter so much (the core of the 'F**k It' philosophy)
Sure, it's hard not to get down about what we've done and are doing to the environment, but we think it's best to become a shifter, not just a desister...
We're shifters, not desisters
There's a growing movement (and we ain't seen nothing yet) of 'eco puritans'. Those who think it's now wrong to fly, to eat food that wasn't made within 10 miles of your home, etc..
In the face of the now overwhelming evidence that we're mucking up this planet for good, they stop doing everything that's vaguely mucky. They tag every mucky activity as 'wrong' and tag those that do it as 'wrong' (or in the case of the bishop railing against flying, 'sinful')
We're not into that.
We all have to act to help save this planet. But we suggest we should 'shift' not just 'desist'. This means shifting our behaviour, not stopping doing everything we love doing. So you might change your car from a 4x4 to a smaller more efficient vehicle. You might take the packaging off the cling-wrapped apples at the checkout of your supermarket, but you still buy the apples (transported from somewhere else). Shift and (for the time being) don't just desist.
The problem with Puritanism is that it simply puts people off. We all get guilty and freaked about doing all the things we love doing so we switch off to these messages and do nothing. Much better for 75% of us to make shifts in our behaviour than just 10% to puritanically stop all 'wrong' behaviour. If you want evidence of the effect of Puritanism just look at those Victorians. On the face of it prim, proper, church-going, desisters. Well, there were more prostitutes in Victorian London than at any other time in history.
Of course you can decide not to drive, fly, buy anything that's packaged. You can sit in a flat eating the veg from the allotment, and recycling your own waste and not going out. But I think after a couple of weeks of this, most of us would be quite happy to see a good global-warming-created-tornado to liven things up a bit.