We know that holidays can take an Eco toll on our planet, especially when you add in the impact of jet travel.  Here at Dufton Barn Holidays we want to try and do as much as we can to make your stay as green as possible.  We know we aren’t perfect, and we are always looking at ways to improve, but we want to give our guests the best chance of reducing their carbon footprint, whilst at the same time making the most of their holiday.

Understandably, due to our rural location, many of our guests arrive by car, and if you do, once here, you actually don’t have to use your car again until you leave.  We have a pub and café in the village, and a bakery just over a mile away in nearby Long Marton.  Most of the big supermarkets will deliver your on-line shop to the village, and you can even arrange with local newsagent, Dents of Appleby, to have your favourite newspaper delivered to the village bus stop for you to walk up and collect at your leisure.

The area is a walking and cycling idyll.  Here you can cycle along quiet country lanes or for the more adventurous attempt iconic cycling routes like Great Dunn Fell, the UK’s Mont Ventoux, or cycle up Hartside Pass to Alston, both with stunning views over the Eden Valley.  For those that love to walk we have provided enough self-guided walks from the doorstep to fill your week twice over, including the famous High Cup Nick and the ever-present Dufton Pike. In fact, this area is in the North Pennines AONB and so we have plenty of stunning scenery where you can enjoy the local fauna and flora including deer, red squirrels, wild flowers and varied bird life.

If you do want to leave your car at home, then Dufton is a mere 3 mile taxi ride from Appleby station on the Settle Carlisle line with connections to both the East and West Coast mainlines.  The village is also a key staging point on the Pennine Way National Trail if you choose to arrive by foot!

Both properties were originally constructed in 1882 of thick local sandstone, which makes them warmer in winter and cooler in summer (these Cumbrians knew what they were doing).  However, whilst we were renovating, we took the trouble to ensure that both had fully insulated walls and roof-space with 100mm boarding.  The electricity we use comes from 100% renewable sources, and both properties have showers to make our water usage more sustainable.  We have a log burner in each and the logs we use are supplied from locally grown wood that is harvested through sustainable management of local woodlands.

The welcome pack we provide in Shepherds View is made up exclusively of Cumbrian produced goods including half of the products from within a radius of 3 miles of the property.  We provide coffee pods and Cumbrian Tea bags that are compostable and we offer guests the ability to recycle plastic, paper, glass and cans, as well as providing a kitchen compost bin.

We hate plastic waste so we have tried to reduce our single use plastics in the bathroom with refillable products from the Bath House (Sedbergh, Cumbria) as well as providing milk in reusable glass bottles.  We do all our own laundry on site on an Eco Wash and air-dry whenever the weather allows. We also use Eco cleaning products wherever possible.

For the future?  We still have a long way to go and we are always looking to make a greater contribution, but we hope that we play some small part in offering a more sustainable holiday.