Green Places to Stay: Three Acres Country House
If you're chosing to spend your holiday in the UK you're already off to a good start in the green stakes, and if you choose accommodation with sound eco credentials, you'll lesser the impact of your trip even further.
The Green Tourism site is a great first port of call if you're looking for an eco friendly B&B or hotel in the UK, and has a handy online list of establishments that have been approved by the scheme. And this weekend, I had the chance to visit one hotel that's doing its bit for the environment, Three Acres Country House, which is set in the beautiful, remote surroundings of Exmoor National Park.
Related: Eco-tourism: Organic places to stay
To get there the greenest way, make your way by train to Tiverton Parkway and the staff will arrange a taxi for the short drive between the station and hotel. You'll probably be greeted by Roger, the friendly labrador.
Being in such a remote rural setting, you'll have every opportunity to get active in the great outdoors, and there are lessons offered locally in Nordic Walking. Once you've worked up an appetite, you'll be ready to sample the food at the hotel, which is prepared fresh to order using produce sourced, grown or reared locally. We particularly liked the fact that the origins of all the ingredients in our breakfast were marked on a local map on the back of the menu.
You'll find a tempting array of seasonal fruit salads, organic yoghurt, cereals and home made fruit compote covered in Exmoor honey, before you tuck into a wholesome English breakfast or one of the daily specials which include Exe Valley Cold Smoked Trout with Scramble Egg or one of our vegetarian options such as Home-made Bubble & Squeak with Poached Eggs. We were offered homemade veggie sausages, which are always a welcome addition to the standard vegetarian brunch.
The hotel takes recycling seriously and promised us that our cast-off newspapers would soon be making the journey to the local recycling plant.
I would definitely recommend Three Acres as a greener place to stay, and would add that the beds are top class for comfort!
