Sustainability and the Environment

Our Approach to Environmental Sustainability

Since opening Marlfield in 1978, we have always focused on hospitality, luxurious surroundings, beautiful food and warm and friendly service. Having always grown our own produce in our kitchen garden, used local fish and meat, kept waste to a minimum and sourced local food producers we believe that we have always fundamentally operated as a sustainable business. However, in recent years we have moved to further enhance this approach by implementing an environmental sustainability programme and achieving Green Hospitality Certification.

Our Policy

We are committed to operating to the highest environmental standards possible which will protect and sustain the environment, our employees and local community, and the long-term financial viability of our county house hotel.

Our immediate vision is to implement as many actions as we can to minimise our environmental footprint and to maximise our support for the local economy – suppliers and local community environmental initiatives. At all times we will follow best practice advice and ensure we follow relevant environmental regulations and provide relevant training to our employees to empower them in supporting our goals.

We will regularly measure and monitor our impact with a specific focus on minimising energy and water consumption and working towards a Zero to Landfill waste approach.

We will achieve third-party environmental management certification through the Green Hospitality Programme.

Our Goals

During 2022 we have a number of primary goals:

  • Energy – reduce consumption by 5% with a target of a 30% reduction by 2026
  • Water – reduce mains water consumption by 5% in 2022
  • Waste – Achieve the Plastic Smart GREENMark during 2022 – minimising single-use plastics
  • Local Supplies – measure our expenditure within a 50km radius and set a target to increase this for 2022 and annually thereafter
  • Achieve Eco-label Certification with the Green Hospitality Programme.

Our additional target for 2022 is to be a carbon-neutral hotel. We will focus on our Scope 1 & 2 emissions and reduce our energy consumption as much as possible, purchase green electricity and Bio LPG, along with an ongoing energy efficiency programme. We will also offset any corporate/business travel and engage with our suppliers to reduce their Scope 1 & 2 emissions (Our Scope 3 ones).

We are totally committed to purchasing food and services from local suppliers and our Food Miles are generally within a 50km radius of the hotel. All other purchases are checked for their responsible business attributes and business approach.

Your Support

We would invite you to support us in any way you can in minimising our environmental footprint and we welcome any suggestions you have for us. We would ask that during your stay in the sunny South East you apply the principles of “Leave no Trace” when visiting local sights and attractions (Details available at reception) and support our local artisan food, drink and craft businesses by purchasing at least one item to take home with you.

If you would like to know more about what specific actions we have taken, click through below to access all our environmental information.

Thank you for supporting our sustainable endeavours – showing that luxury and sustainability can go hand in hand.

Laura and Margaret Bowe

Green Hospitality