Introduction
School Farm Cottages are self-catering cottages, located in the unspoiled Suffolk countryside. Each cottage is centrally heated by the site’s biomass boiler. The cottages also benefit from renewable electricity generated on site. 

Two of the cottages have been awarded Level 1 Mobility under the ETC National Accessible Standard.

A former farm workshop has been converted into a space that is used primarily as a games room for guests, but is also hired out as a conference room or meeting space.


Managing our impacts
School Farm Cottages has been working to improve the efficiency and reduce the environmental impacts of the cottages for several years and in this time, we have implemented several measures:
• The cottages (and the farm house) have their heating and hot water provided by a woodchip biomass boiler; they used to be heated with oil. Woodchip is sourced from sustainably managed local woodland in line with Forestry Commission / Woodfuel East guidelines as well as the farm itself. This reduces carbon emissions by 94% compared to oil fired heating.
• In 2015 we installed 4Kw solar panels. This year (2024) we have been able to install solar panels generating a further 8.8Kw, as well as batteries to store electricity, thanks to a 50% grant towards the cost which we secured via East Suffolk Council’s Energy Efficiency Grant scheme (funded by the UK Government’s Levelling up fund). In combination with our existing (4 kw) solar array we reduced our electricity imported since installation in March to 545 kwh, exported 1.963 Mwh meaning that our 'net' export was 1.418 Mwh. We also used electricity generated on site to contribute 298 Kwh to heating hot water for the holiday cottages during July and August, further reducing our carbon emissions. 


• Whenever practical, bed linen and towels are dried on the line outside, rather than in the tumble dryer

• Communication is made with guests to encourage low impact behaviour and activities including recycling, local farmers’ markets, events, walks and cycling routes amongst other practices

• Cycle storage is available together with maps, leaflets and other local information

• Produce from the farm and neighbouring farms is available to purchase and other goods made available to guests are purchased locally as listed on our Sustainable Procurement Policy.

• All cottages are equipped with environmentally friendly toiletries and cleaning products.

• The farm itself is managed for wildlife through hedgerow conservation and the majority of grassland is a grass / clover mix which receives no artificial fertiliser (as the clover fixes atmospheric nitrogen).



Our Carbon Footprint

In 2013, School Farm Cottages calculated its carbon footprint - we considered the environmental impact of wood chip consumption, business mileage, electricity consumption, water use, waste disposal and procurement. It was estimated that this resource consumption and waste generation (and associated residual emissions) from 2012/2013 was responsible for the emission of 19.2tCO2e. Our carbon footprint was recalculated for 2014/2015 using the same parameters and was found to be 16.4tCO2e. This is a reduction of 14.7%. The new solar/battery installation is forecast to save a further 1.6tCO2 per year, which we expect to comfortably exceed as we have almost achieved the forecast annual electricity savings in the first six months since installation

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Monitoring our progress

To understand and quantify our progress against the above targets, we will be closely monitoring our energy and resource consumption by taking regular meter readings.