An end to paper marketing

This month sees the last of our paper marketing...
We've dropped our last brochure and will be concentrating on web marketing from now on - it's so much greener. We think our accommodation pages, our nature blog and our Devon days out ideas will convince you to come and stay in this wonderful part of Devon.

Devon Green Tourism Business Network - Wildlife for Economic Gain

[Maggie] On 22nd we had 35 people from some of Devon's greenest tourism businesses here at Wheatland Farm...




... it was a meeting for the Devon Green Tourism Buisness Network. The topic was wildlife for economic gain, with presentations on the upcoming Wild about Devon project, how a nature trail can add value to a business, and our own case study - asking visitors to choose us for their self catering 'eco' holiday because we run the whole farm for wildlife.

Speaking in front of a crowd isn't one of my natural strengths, so the best bit for me was taking people on a walk and chatting about dormouse boxes, minimizing the mowing, greening the lodges, sowing yellow rattle so as to encourage the wildflowers, creating new habitats and laying hedges etc, ending up in the nature reserve, which is always my favourite place to be.

Fiona's Farm Fayre - the shop from the farm that also loans us the cows to graze our nature reserve - did a lovely lunch with far too many cakes...(great!). The village hall loaned us chairs for free (because we're helping fund raise for them by hosting a hedge laying demo - more later) and we gathered all the cups in the house and the mismatched crocks saved from when the lodges need new plates. It was a squeeze, but we rarely use that big room for anything else so there wasn't much furniture to push aside...

It was lovely meeting like minded people from other parts of Devon and sharing encouragement!



The Devon Green Tourism Busines Network was set up by Devon County Council to support sustainable tourism businesses. It provides a forum for the 165 Green Tourism Business Scheme (GTBS) accredited members in the County.

DIY solar air heater

We're experimenting with a solar air heater made from an old sun bed and some secondary glazing. OK, so it won't do away with all our heating bills, but it could help in spring and autumn when it's sunny but still chilly inside.


We saw a commercial version of this earlier in the year at a eco-building event - but the price was high, around £1500 for a small unit.

Yet in principle the thing is so simple. You have a heat sink behind glass, an air intake at the bottom, and air out take at the top, and a solar powered computer fan to drive the circulation when it's sunny.

Apparently they've been used for a while in Germany, often to air heat caravans or holiday homes that aren't in frequent use.

So when Ian spotted the bulb-holding section of an old tanning bed down at the dump, he couldn't resist. And when my parents had their house double glazed, I nabbed some of the old secondary glazing they had been using.

Ian has painted the corrugated metal of the tanning bed black and fitted the glass on the front. A vent at the bottom lets air in - and warmer air rises out of the top. We still need to find a fan - back down to the dump probably - and decide where it's going to go. To heat a house of course you need to 'plumb it in' and that means holes through windows or doors, which isn't something to do without thought. We might test it on the garage first! We'll report back later.


Meanwhile, a little web research throws up some similar designs:

More here about how to make a solar air heater from drink cans.

On the fantastic Instructables site there's another design for a solar garage heater that circulates air from inside the garage through an external wall mounted heater (using metal fly screen, not beer cans)and back into the building.

Or if you just want something simpler to amuse yourself (or a science project for the kids) look at this page for a solar heater made from drinks cans that is hung in a window.

Checking dormouse boxes in Devon

[Maggie] I'm working towards my dormouse handling licence, so we can join the national monitoring scheme.
I've done the theory part of the course, now for the practical: checking boxes with experienced Devon dormouse expert Janice Whittington. I won't say where exactly as this woodland, though private, is bordered by a bridlepath. Unfortunately, many of Jan's boxes, put up a good few years ago, have now gone - presumably vandalised, so she is no longer adding more. But we did find two occupied nests, and also, rather sadly, a dead dormouse. No clues as to why it died, but Jan will send it for analysis...

A guided walk around our nature reserve for the U3A

[Maggie] On Friday I took a group from the Tiverton branch of the University of the Third Age around Popehouse Moor, our SSSI nature reserve.
Initially there were going to be twelve people, which is about as many as we can take at a time, but the pouring rain of the early morning slimmed that down to five.

Yet the weather was kind - clearing up to a sunny morning.

We don't charge for walks and always offer free guided walks to guests at our eco lodges and cottage, but we do ask for a donation, to be passed on to the Devon Wildlife Trust, for outside groups.

So a big thank you to the U3A group, whose whip round generated £35, which I know the Trust will put to good use.

If anyone else would like to arrange a walk, please feel free to get in touch. There's something to be seen all year round - though May is probably the highlight for flowers.