Our Green Story
At Charney Manor, when it comes to looking after the planet, we start with the small things.
Like the water in your room. It’s in a glass bottle, refreshed just for you. We’re really not keen on single-use plastics. And rainwater that falls on Charney Manor stays right here, reused from butts to water our lovely gardens.
Which is good because we grow rhubarb, pears, plums, peaches, apples, gooseberries and figs right here. You’ll find all of them in our delicious hand-cooked food, without an air mile between them.
There’s also local honey for sale in our gift shop. Good for hay fever, good for the environment.
You won’t see it on the labels, but our toiletries are kind to you and to the planet.
Is your room the right temperature? Our advanced heating system gives our guests the temperature they want which means more comfort for you and less waste for us.
Lights? They turn themselves off when you don’t need them and, when you do, they’re 100% powered by recycled energy.
You can’t get to us by train, sadly, but you can recharge your car when you get here. Or, even better, use our cycle store.
Looking after our guests is always our top priority, even when they come in animal form. We have houses for insects, for bees and of course for birds. There’s also a couple of hedgehogs who get free board and lodging here.
When you’re one of the oldest continually inhabited houses in the country, it’s sometimes hard to make all the greener changes you’d like to. But we’re making all the small changes now, so we can pass along a healthier world tomorrow.
Have a lovely stay, from Charney Manor and the whole Quaker family.
Charney Manor Environmental Policy
Charney Manor is a conference and retreat centre owned by the Society of Friends, also known as the Quakers. The Quaker movement has always been mindful of the environment with policies laid out as early as the 1700s.
The produce of the earth is a gift from our gracious creator to the inhabitants, and to impoverish the earth now to support outward greatness appears to be an injury to the succeeding age.
John Woolman 1772
The Quaker movement in the UK have pledged themselves to become a low-carbon sustainable community, working to develop thinking about sustainability and climate justice.
Likewise, Charney Manor today is committed to working in a mindful and sustainable way. We aim to conduct all our business in a responsible manner, reducing the overall impact we have on the environment through green best practices in products, energy management, resource usage, site maintenance, services and logistics.
We take care to raise environmental awareness and understanding with all our employees, customers, suppliers and the local community.
Our current commitments include:
- Always seeking to improve our environmental and social performance
- Working to continually reduce pollution emissions and waste
- Actively managing our use of energy, water and other resources
- Raising awareness, encouraging participation and training employees in sustainable business practices
- Complying with all the requirements of environmental legislation and approved codes of practice
- Screening suppliers and contractors for their environmental standards
- Assisting customers to use products, services and travel in an environmentally sensitive way
- Increasing the use of recyclable and renewable materials
- Minimising of risks associated with social and environmental issues
- Liaising with the local community, charities and businesses on sustainability matters
- Cultivating and managing our grounds with sensitivity to the living habitats
- Using our Green Tourism membership as a means to continuously improve our environmental performance
Our in-house Green Team meet regularly to monitor progress on our initiatives and to see how we can move forward in our sustainability goals.
Our Carbon Footprint
The carbon footprint of Charney Manor is approximately 14.25 ton CO2e* per year, which derives from an average of 0.95 ton CO2e per employee.
Scores of less than 1 ton CO2e per employee are considered sustainable.
TOTALS
Energy: 0.3 ton
Heating: 0.2 ton
Electricity: 0.1 ton
Travel: 0.6 ton
Flights: 0 ton
Cars: 0.6 ton
Consumption: 0.05 ton
Food consumption: 0 ton
Non-food consumption: 0.05 ton
* Carbon dioxide equivalent
