GOING GREEN

PLANET FRIENDLY TRAVEL NEWS BY JANE MEMMLER

■ Visitors to

Blenheim

Palace in

Oxfordshire are encouraged to travel there in an environmentally friendly way. If you arrived by public transport, or electric vehicle, the entry fee will be 30% less, if you book online. Those who arrive by car, can make a £5 donation to offset carbon. This will be used to help with the tree-planting scheme on the estate, to increase the natural ecosystem. Many souvenirs are locally sourced and sustainably made from bamboo and recycled plastic.

blenheimpalace.com

Wander through remote villages in

India’s

Himalayan foothills with Village Ways who are working with local communities. By joining a villageto-village tour you’ll experience a true taste of traditional life. Staying in guesthouses, you’ll dine on vegetarian food and meet the villagers who are working the land – even help them farm – as you follow in the footsteps of Sir Henry Ramsay, a British general in the Indian Army.

villageways.com

■

■ There’s a new forest in the UK and it can be found in North

Yorks. The

Raithwaite Sandsend hotel is home to the UK’S first hotel forest garden. It sits within 100 acres and they’ve created a P policy: people, planet and pleasure. The forest features organic, no-dig beds and poly tunnels, and 1,000 trees have been planted, including fruit, nut and perennials.

The polytunnels produce the organic fruit and vegetables that are used in the kitchen and the rest of the produce is sourced within 30 miles, reducing CO2 emissions. An in-house water filter system provides both still and sparking water. Electric vehicles are used on site, toiletries are organic and rainwater is recycled.

raithwaitesandsend.co.uk