flower
 Treshnish and Haunn
Treshnish Point, near Calgary, Isle of Mull, PA75 6QX
Tel/fax: +44(0)1688 400249    
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                              GREEN TOURISM

 GREEN TOURISM:
We are proud to have been awarded a Gold Award by the Green Tourism Business Scheme and we hope that our guests will help us improve our performance in further minimising the ecological footprint of the business by recycling whatever they can while they are here and doing the usual things like turning out lights et cetera to save energy.   We have also signed up to the Mull and Iona Eco Charter which encourages all the measures of reducing, reusing and recycling that we are keen on.  We support the more environmentally friendly concept of eco-tourism that the Green Tourism Business Scheme encourages.

WIND and WOOD
After 3 years of researching we have finally decided upon 2 renewable technologies to suit our location.   We are installing a woodchip boiler/District heating system at Treshnish which, with the help of several hundred meters of insulated pipe, will provide heating and hot water for the four Treshnish cottages, the laundry, the office and the farm house.  We will use locally produced woodchip from Mull softwood timber which is usually shipped off the island.   For this reason the Treshnish cottages will not be available for rent from the end of October 2008 until the beginning of March 2009!  We are also putting up a Proven wind turbine near the farm buildings so we can harness the wind in a positive way and produce some of our own electricity.   The woodchip heating system will cut down our reliance on oil and electricity for heating and reduce our carbon footprint.   As the two projects develop we will update this page of the website.

RE-CYCLING:
We re-cycle whatever we can and provide bins for our guests to do the same at the farm.  Currently the local council recycles glass, paper, cardboard, plastic (milk, drinks) bottles, tin and alu cans.  Paper is collected by the council fortnightly but we take the glass, tins and plastic to Dervaig to be recycled (if we are going past anyway).   We provide compost bins in each cottage so that we can use the vegetable waste guests collect in our own organic garden.   Our chickens enjoy stale bread!  Over the summer of 2006 the holiday cottage waste was reduced by approximately 30% so this is a good indication that a lot of our guests are recycling!
 
ECO-FRIENDLY:
We use eco-friendly products wherever we can and we leave a supply of eco-friendly cleaning materials in each cottage for guests to use, including washing powder.
We provide air clothes driers  in each cottage, and washing lines outside but to comply with Quality Assurance standards there is a tumble drier at the farm for emergencies! 
We use low energy light bulbs wherever we can. At Haunn every light bulb is low energy and every replacement bulb is low energy at Treshnish.
We source local products and support local businesses.  We use local builders, plumbers, electricians.   We use eco-friendly paint.
Whatever we can get in bulk for the cottages, we buy in bulk thus minimising excess packaging and unnecessary car journeys (it is a 30 mile round trip to Tobermory).
We put outside lights on timers so that they are not left on unnecessarily.   Studio and the cottages laundry use green electricity.  (We cannot find an electricity provider who can match the heating tariff for the other cottages.)
We are 3 miles from the nearest bus stop, and will happily collect and deliver luggage for guests who would like to come by public transport.  We have a couple of bicycles for guests to use providing they are available.  We encourage guests to take organised tours (for example: Discover Mull).
 
CARBON OFFSETTING: 

We are members of a scheme to help offset the carbon output of the holiday cottages. What this means is that we pay an annual contribution based on our oil, electricity and gas bills to an organisation called Climate Care who undertake to use this money for environmental projects in parts of the world where they are most needed.

We have arranged with Climate Care that we will pass on any donation our guests may choose to leave to offset the carbon usage in their travelling to and on Mull. We feel it is a small but important way in which to help lessen the destructive footprint we leave behind us, and to take responsibility for the effects we all have on climate change.  In 2006 our guests donated £290 to Climate Care.  For more details of the scheme they run, please look at www.climatecare.org
 
TREE PLANTING:
One of the possible meanings of the name Treshnish is headland of the trees.  There are certainly tiny gnarled willows and hazels clinging on in places where the sheep and deer cannot reach which seems to indicate there may well have been trees all over the headland.  We are planting native broadleaves and fencing off areas of the farm to allow re-generation and it is exciting to see tiny seedlings appearing even on the open hill.  We hope to create a wild life corridor across the in-bye fields.
 
BIRD BOXES:
The corner of the farm steading which is now the Studio used to be home to swallows.  To replace their lost summer nesting sites we have put swallow boxes up in the new farm buildings.  So far they havent used them (though sparrows have!). Thankfully though the swallows still return each summer but they have found several other sites to nest.  We put up bird boxes in the woodland and it is great to see them being used.
 
BIRD LOG:
We have been lucky to have had Prasad, who lives and works here, keep a bird log this year - he started it in February 2006 and it is a fascinating and valuable record of what has been seen on Treshnish and in north Mull.  It is ongoing and guests are welcome to add their sightings to it.  He has also started a comprehensive flower, butterfly and moth list.
 
INTERESTING WEBSITE LINKS:
 
This site last updated May 2008
All text, pictures and images © Treshnish Farm, Isle of Mull