Air source heating, solar panels and a green frame of mind have earned Palace Farm the GTBS Gold Award
Palace Farm is a working farm growing plums, Christmas trees, wheat, pumpkins and other vegetables for local sale. The farm has free range chickens and eggs with bright orange yolks are fished out from under hedges and made available to guests in season.
In the past weed killers were used between trees and under hedgerows. The orchards has closely mown grass separating the fruit trees. Following advise form a Conservation Consultant, Palace Farm now leaves weeds under hedges unsprayed which has encouraged natural insect predators, so there is seldom a need to use sprays for pest control. The rabbits enjoy the extra undergrowth too.
Palace Farm uses under-floor heating and an air source heat pump to provide warmth in the Granary hostel accommodation. The Granary was converted in 2011 and is so well insulated that there the wood burning stove installed for back up warmth is hardly ever used. The Courtyard rooms at Palace Farm have low energy lighting and huge amounts of insulation, heating is provided by a “clean burn” log burner fueled by waste wood from the farm. Hot water is provided using solar panels for heating. Palace Farm has 30 x 400w solar panels, 10 on the campsite toilet roof and 20 on a south facing hostel roof. They also have an electric car charging point.
Find out more about Palace Farm Hostel
