We have been offering holidays in one of the worlds most beautiful valleys for nearly sixty years. But as the decades pass our world is showing clear signs of being unable to cope with the consequences of humanities continued desire for growth.
The climate crisis is like no other, in extent, urgency and impact. Our government has, for many hundreds of years, taken two things for granted; a stable climate and plentiful fossil fuels. Neither of these can be taken for granted any more. We have little faith in this government being able to deliver any meaningful reduction in the amount of carbon being used in the UK, and so, in the absence of meaningful national regulations, it’s up to all of us to do what we can, to influence, to lead and to try and make a difference.
We all have some choice in how to live our lives, the energy sources we use, if we accept single use plastic or not, what we buy, where we holiday etc..
The Quiet Site has spent the last two decades making both business and investment choices based on a desire to be fully sustainable. We consider both our place in the community as well as our our embedded and operational footprints .
Choosing a ‘Quiet’ holiday means you too want to make a difference in the world. The Brundtland Commission of the United Nations in March 1987 said, “Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. We agree with this statement fully but sadly much of the Holiday Park industry does not share this view. The Static Caravan is a product designed 50 years ago. They are poorly insulated, reliant on LPG and the manufacturers show no desire to innovate or improve the product to make it fit for purpose in the 21st Century. We no longer purchase static caravans and have been building our own units since 2015. We build well insulated and shaded units that are sustainably heated via a district heat main. These units are energy positive as they generate more energy than they use.
These units have been designed to operate in the hotter climate that we all sadly have to become increasingly used to. High levels of insulation will become vital for keeping the heat out of accommodations. Our self-built units are triple insulated and shaded (either by soil, hedges, or solar panels). During the recent heat waves over the 2022 summer the temperature inside our units was nearly half the outside temperature. (We all need to start preparing for the worst even if we still hope for the best). The humble static caravan that dominates our industry are both impossible to heat sustainably in the winter and also will become uninhabitable heat traps in the summer as the climate heats up. The phrase “Not fit for purpose” hardly does them justice.
We also have exciting plans for some new units in 2023, but more about that later..!
After 20 years of re-investment we now operate as a ‘nearly’ carbon neutral company.
You can view our Environmental Policy here.
The Quiet Team are absolutely delighted to have received the following awards:
- Hero of Net Zero at COP21 Glasgow 2021
- Queens Award for Enterprise in Sustainable Development 2020.
- Visit England awarded us with a National Award for Sustainability in 2020.
- FSB Award for Sustainability 2020.
- Green Tourism Gold Award 2022.
- Cumbria Tourism’s Gold award for Sustainability 2019.
The Circular economy is the way the world will need to move to survive. As a business we ask all our customers to buy into the green ethos. Reduce, Reuse, Refill and Recycle.
Designing out waste and pollution, keeping materials in use and using renewable energy sources doesn’t sound too hard – does it? We believe that there needs to be a balance between how we operate our Business, our Customers behaviour towards the environment and the Community we operate in. Operating as a Carbon Neutral business is just the start of our journey to become truly sustainable.
We hope you can join us on this journey.
