Award Winning Self Catering Holidays In the Derbyshire Peak District
Browse through our blog posts to find out what life is like at Hoe Grange Holidays along with some great ideas for days out in the Peak District.
We love Christmas, and don’t want to be Green Grinches, so here’s some helpful tips on how to celebrate and have fun while keeping your environmental impact to a minimum.
Christmas in the UK generates as much as 1 billion Christmas cards, 83 sq km of wrapping paper, an extra 750 million bottles and glass containers, 500 million extra drinks cans and half a million Christmas trees - most of which ends up as waste in landfill.
Here’s how little actions can make a positive difference
E-cards and festive online messages are a great way of reducing waste. At Hoe Grange we have cut down on traditional cards this year. The savings we have made on postage and paper have been donated to the charity Canine Partners to train amazing assistance dogs, who help transform lives.
However sometimes it’s still nice to post a proper card with a personal message to those you haven’t seen for a while or to people who may not have access to the internet. If so go for cards printed on recycled card, without glitter and with a fundraising element.
Wrap your gifts in non-shiny paper or brown paper which you can decorate yourself rather than the sparkly metallic papers that can't be recycled.
Reuse Christmas cards from last year as gift tags. This is something my mother always used to do and I have carried on the family tradition.
Support local independent businesses and you will find unique and personalised gifts made with love, dedication, short supply chains, ethical sourcing & people who care more about what they give than take. Read our blog on Christmas presents inspired by the Peak District for inspiration.
Or what about a Hoe Grange Holidays gift voucher which can be used towards a holiday or for one of our amazing experiences? Spend an summer’s evening in the beautiful Peak District cooking pizza's on the outdoor oven, or a romantic evening in our log-fired hot tub under the stars, or toast marshmallows round the firepit.
Whatever your loved ones enjoy, we have the Christmas gift for them! Vouchers available fro £25 upwards.
If you’re interested in buying a Hoe Grange gift voucher or wish to book a stay with in the stunning Peak District, call us on 01629 540262 or email info@hoegrangeholidays.co.uk
Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without a tree!
There is often a debate about real ‘v’ artificial trees, but opting for a real tree is the best option by far.
Real trees are usually farmed and not randomly chopped down from wild woods. Also by buying from a local grower you’re supporting the rural economy.
If you buy a rooted Christmas tree, you can plant it out in the garden after Christmas and re-use it year after year. It can be fun to track its growth over the years, alongside the height of your children.
If you buy a pine tree without roots it can be recycled into mulch for the garden, Or maybe it can be naturally recycled as a tasty treat for pygmy goats – we know a little herd of goats who love them!
Whilst artificial trees can be used many times eventually they have to be disposed of. Because they are made of a number of different materials they are difficult to recycle.
Tree baubles, tinsel, wreaths made from fake holly and many other decorations are often made of plastic-based materials and non-recyclable. Opt instead for decorations made from glass, wood, fabric or natural things like cinnamon sticks, nuts and dried oranges, or evergreen foliage and berries.
It goes without saying to reuse decorations you already have rather than buying new each year.
If you want a real twinkle always go for LED fairy lights – they use a wopping 75% less energy and can last up to 25 times longer than regular tree lights. Don’t forget to turn off lights overnight. If not mains operated then use rechargeable batteries wherever possible.
Recent research from Oxfam reveals that 1.7 MILLION sequined items are binned following the festive season.
We are obsessed with the glitz and glamour of sequined clothes and bright Christmas jumpers. This in itself isn’t fundamentally wrong, it’s more the pressure on women to wear a different outfit every time they go out and our attitude to disposal clothing. Our grandparents had one or possibly two Sunday best outfits; we wear something different every week!
What can we do?
The best choice is to ditch sequins altogether, but if that’s one step too far here are some great options:
Avoid crackers with shiny wrapping paper, glitter and useless plastic trinkets. Instead you can make your own eco style crackers or why not have little table gifts for everyone instead.
It’s our family tradition to have a Secret Santa table present. Everyone buys a small, useful gift, wraps it up and brings it along. All the gifts are placed in the centre of the table. Then we allocate numbers and everyone chooses a gift in turn, either from the centre of the table or they can “steal” from someone else who has already chosen a gift – no one knows what they are getting. It’s an entertaining way to finish off our Christmas dinner -there’s always one or two presents that everyone fights over!
Time to party, but resist the temptation to use disposable items such as plastic knives, forks and glasses, and paper napkins. It doesn't take long to wash up and if your friends are true friends they will even lend a hand!
Christmas is all about celebrating with family and friends and the star of the show is Christmas dinner. However, it is very easy to get carried away with the shopping! According to The Independent, four million Christmas dinners go to waste every year.
Did you know?
Supermarkets sell approximately 750million individual Brussels sprouts at Christmas, but if you estimate how many are actually eaten, it’s only about half that amount!
Annually over 250,000 tonnes of food is thrown away unnecessarily in the UK. That equates to 650 million meals of good food gone to waste. That’s pretty bad. But what’s worse is that the wasted food going into landfill creates seriously harmful greenhouse gases 28 times more potent than CO².
Easy steps to reduce waste
Hope you've enjoyed our top tips - greener doesn't have to be meaner.
Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and an Evergreen New Year!
Felicity
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