Fuchsia Lane Farm Sustainability Policy 2024

Sustainability Mission Statement

To create a sustainable, destination space comprising accommodation and group space, on a family farm, featuring a landscape that protects, maintains and encourages biodiversity, strives towards being carbon neutral and adopting regenerative practices.

Vision

Fuchsia Lane Farm is a viable and internationally-recognised destination that offers a real rural retreat to our visitors, both individuals and in groups.  It is a place for relaxation, restoration, replenishment  and renewal. Accommodation and facilities are low-impact in energy use and are carbon-friendly,  reflect the vernacular tradition and offer  a restful space, with access to our family farm and its landscape.  Land use and agricultural practices are sustainable in terms of climate change and input use, with added value based on the uniqueness of the destination.  The destination is a ‘container’ for conversations, growth, connections and encouragement, responding to the need for individual and collective action in order to care for the earth.  

Adoption of the UN Tourism Organisation definition of sustainable tourism

At Fuchsia Lane Farm, we believe that sustainable tourism is tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social, and environmental impacts while addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment, and host communities (UN Tourism, n.d.). We therefore aim to reduce our negative effects and increase our positive impacts.

At Fuchsia Lane Farm we follow the principles of Regenerative Tourism and are building that into our business model. We are also supportive of the Inner Development Goals (IDGs) Framework as a means to working towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals

Our commitment to measuring energy consumption and reduction activities

Energy consumption:

We measure our electricity use at each of the cottages with every rental, and also monitor our electricity bills every 2 months. 

We have LPG and Oil heating in the cottages and bills are monitored per invoice or billing period.

We are conscious of energy usage, and we meter electricity usage and have installed ‘smart’ electric heaters in the Granary, Stables and our group space, the Haybarn Hub.  We can set these remotely and ensure that heaters are not left on at times when not needed. All hot water cylinders operate on time clocks.

To reduce our consumption we engage in the follow activities:

  1. Every cottage with electric immersions have run-back timers which turn off automatically to prevent unnecessary usage
  2. Newer cottages were built with high levels of insulation making them easy and economical to heat in wintertime.
  3. We have remote heating controls in all cottages  which allows for monitoring of energy use.
  4. All electric heaters are Smart Rads which can be switched on and off automatically and also control temperature.
  5. We wash our towels and linens on short low temperature cycles. We air dry as much as possible.
  6. We use an EV and have an EV charger for guests. We also use an electric bike with a small trailer for linen supplies etc to the cottages during changeovers. 
  7. We have recently installed a 10kW  Solar PV array on the roof of our haybarn which will allow us to export excess generation.
Our commitment to measuring water consumption and reduction activities

Water consumption :

We belong to a group water scheme, which has metered connections, which we monitor every 3months.  We aim to reduce consumption by

  1. We have reduced the capacity of toilet cisterns, which reduce flush volumes
  2. We have a number of water butts that collect rainwater for gardening. We aim to increase the amount of rainwater collected by using a harvesting system on an agricultural shed.
  3. We run appliances such as dishwashers and washing machines on eco/short cycles.
Our commitment to measuring waste production and reduction activities

Waste production:

We measure our recyclable and general waste production through checking out waste collection weights every 3 months  and reduce waste by

  1. All food waste and vegetable waste is composted on site
  2. We buy bathroom supplies in bulk to reduce packaging waste
  3. We give guests biodegradable cleaning cloths and have replaced paper cleaning towels with recycled washable cloths for our own needs. 
  4. Our cleaning products are biodegradable and refillable
How our business supports ethical purchasing

At Fuchsia Lane Farm we are committed to ethical purchasing.

We support local artisan suppliers (e.g. local chocolate maker) and encourage guests to buy their provisions from the local market or the local shops.

We use ethically sourced coffee in the office and responsibly produced cleaning products throughout our business.

How our business demonstrates social responsibility

We are part of a network where we are exploring the Inner Development Goals which looks at how one can embed personal change that can lead to more sustainable lives, communities and organisations.  We have held several gatherings on this topic here and look forward to more.

  • We support our local community by supporting our local Village Hall, Tidy Towns and other community initiatives.
  • We run a film club in the off season.
  • We are collecting deposits from guests returnable bottles and any money collected will be donated to a local charity
  • We encourage guests to use local shops and markets.
How your business supports biodiversity/conservation

On the land we have created spaces for biodiversity and wildlife to flourish and participate in a farming programme that rewards us for climate change mitigation measures.  We are particularly passionate about the power of nature to be a restorative space and we have a 20 acre wild meadow comprising species rich grassland that has not experienced any chemicals or soil inversion practices in more than a generation.  In Feb 2025 we partnered with an company to which resulted in the planting of 1000 hedgerow saplings, native trees and a traditional heritage orchard.

Your commitment to carbon management

At Fuchsia Lane Farm we are committed to reducing our carbon footprint as much as possible

However, we prioritise first reducing our impact by:

  1. We offer guests bicycles to enjoy their stay at a leisurely pace as well as promoting e-bike tours with a local business
  2. We have replaced 2 diesel cars with EV’s and use an electric bike to collect laundry from our cottages.
  3. We have installed 23 solar panels on our property.

We are now offering guests the opportunity to place their own fingerprints on the future through supporting our native tree plantings.  Taking inspiration from the ‘Hare’s Corner’ initiative in The Burren, we have planted the parts of our fields that are too small for modern farm machinery to reach. These spaces offer ideal locations for native Irish trees such as Oak, Birch, Whitethorn etc.  We have also created an orchard comprising of Heritage Apple tree varieties.

We are inviting guests who wish to be part of this to select the option of contributing to the planting of one to five trees when they make an online booking for one of our cottages.  We will then look after the selection, planting, staking and maintaining of these trees.  Depending on the time of year, guests may wish to be part of the planting and we will also note where each tree is planted and identify its supporter.

Our commitment to responsible marketing

We know we can’t always get things right the first time. We therefore commit to honestly communicating where we are on our journey and our improvements.

Our commitment to continuous improvement

Sustainability is a journey of continuous improvement, and we are aware that we have a lot to learn.

We are currently participating in a EU programme on Regenerative Tourism which is allowing us to learn from industry experts and this is enabling us to introduce measures that can have a positive impact on the business, the guest experience and the environment.  We are also engaging in a Green for Business Programme sponsored by the Local Enterprise Office.

Sustainability is a journey and we are now moving on to Regeneration, which means ‘adding more back to nature’.

A commitment to reviewing and updating our policy annually

We commit to reviewing and updating this policy on an annual basis

Signature & Date

Niall Heenan            31 July 2024