Sustainable Tourism
Here at Kipling House Barn, we are committed to being sustainable to help better our earth but also so help protect our home, our farm and our countryside. We take joy in watching the local environment here on the Yorkshire Wolds flourish and change, season to season so we are continuously looking at ways to reduce our carbon footprint and doing what we can to encouraging local flora and fauna to succeed.
Heating
Kipling House Barn has no gas connection, you’ll find the hob and ovens to be electric and the internal heating is created using Ground Source Heat.
During the construction, Sarah Soanes took the executive decision to use ground-source heating to supply; the underfloor heating to the ground floor, radiators upstairs, and the hot water to the taps and showers.
The Barn has absolutely no gas and is solely heated by the ground source heat pump. There is a log burner in the kitchen but with the underfloor heating and the insulation of the Barn during redevelopment, it’s always toasty inside so the log-burner is mainly just for ambience if guests choose to light it.
- Ground source heat pumps work by circulating glycol (antifreeze) around a collector pipe, which is buried deep in the ground. Heat from the ground is then absorbed into the fluid and then passed through a heat exchange into the ground source heat pump, where it is concentrated for use in the Barn.
- Ground source heat pumps produce lower carbon emissions than most fossil fuel appliances, they can convert 1 kilowatt of electricity into 4.5 kilowatts of heat, meaning they can be 450% efficient. For comparison, an A-Rated combination boiler can only turn 1 kilowatt of gas or oil into 0.9 kilowatts of heat, meaning they are 90% efficient.
**The EcoForest ecoGeo 3-12kW has a Seasonal Coefficient of Performance (SCOP) of 3.75 or 375% efficiency at a flow temperature of 55 degrees.
At a flow temperature of 35 degrees, this increases to 5.05 or 505% efficiency.
Solar Electricity
In September 2023 the Soanes family had one hundred 410W panels installed onto the grain store roof in the farm yard which can be seen out the kitchen window. These panels provide electricity to Kipling House Barn as well as the neighbouring farm house and cottage. The agricultural part of the farm uses very little electricity being a mainly livestock heavy farmstead.
When the sun is shining, and even on cloudy days, Kipling House Barn can be carbon neutral! The solar energy powers the barn, including supplying electricity to the ground source heat pumps!
We also use low energy LED bulbs throughout the Barn.
Electric Car Charging
We have two electric car charging points for the Barn. These are easy to use and currently free to use for guests.
Local Produce and Local Support
- The cleaning team we use are an independent team based in Market Weighton.
- The laundry company we use are independent and based in Beverley.
- All maintenance and updating of the Barn we try to use local tradesmen and purchase items locally or from independent companies where possible.
- Our ‘gift hamper’ is sourced locally where possible, including Yorkshire Crisps, Sarah Soanes’ honey, Yorkshire popcorn and when available, fresh sourdough from Luke’s bakery based in Brough.
- We recommend suppliers to guests for celebration activities and local restaurants, all of these are local and independent suppliers.
- We supply tea and instant coffee which is refilled from larger tins.
Cleaning and Detergents
We are making the change over to using eco-friendly cleaning products and detergents such as Eco-ver, Method, Faith In Nature and organic mixes (vinegar, lemon water) where possible.
The Body and Hand wash we supply for guests is from Faith In Nature and is refilled from larger containers which are then recycled.
Recycling
We encourage recycling and use the East Riding Council waste disposal service.
We have multiple sheets in the Barn explaining what can be recycled and where the waste goes.
We are in the process of creating a ‘Hen Party Box’ which has lots of party supplies left behind by previous hen groups. We hope this will be available early 2024.
All our redundant bedding and towels are donated to the local Emmaus in Hull, a homeless charity. The crisis team take them to directly help support people looking for shelter for the night.
Finally, on check-out, we encourage guests to leave behind any food that they do not want to take home with them. The unopened tins and packets can be donated to a local food bank, and anything that can’t we try to distribute to the cleaning team and also leave in the farm staff office, extra fruit, bread and milk but they especially love the cakes!
Biodiversity
We like to encourage biodiversity within the Barn courtyard and on our farm. So far, we have installed swift boxes on the Barn and the grain store adjacent to the Barn. We have bat boxes on the Barn and owl boxes in the woods. Also in the woods are a few hedgehog houses which offer good spots for hibernating hedgehogs!
We are working with the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust to help maintain and improve the Dew Ponds at Kipling House Farm which brings a host of flora and fauna including newts and toads. In the summer you will sometimes find the toads in the landscaped garden
We have planted some wildflower patches at Kipling House Farm and have undergone some woodland maintenance.
We are enrolled in the Red Tractor Assurance Scheme which is a set of standards relating to animal welfare, food safety, traceability and environmental protection.
In 2024 we will be hoping to gain our LEAF Marque (Linking Environment and Farming) which is another assurance scheme which recognises sustainable farmed products.
