SUSTAINABILITY
The farmhouse dates at least from the 16th Century (around 1540, when Henry VIII was on the throne) and the barns from the 1700's. Despite being almost 500 years old, the house is rated 'very energy efficient', due to the care & materials used in its repair. It took 7 years to repair the farmhouse which was on the brink of ruin and collapse. Although it is not a listed building, it has been repaired using materials as if it were. Your holiday will be carbon neutral whilst you are at The Hymns.
Electricity is drawn from solar panels and drives the house's electricity needs including aga, and other ancillary items. Water is heated by solar thermal energy & central & underfloor heating is from a ground source heat pump, drawing heat via two boreholes from the earth. Rainwater is recycled from the barn roofs for use in the lavatories and to water the garden. A wood burning stove, burning wood sourced on the farm, and open fire add further renewable heat.
All timber (primarily oak) used in the repair work was sourced locally, lime mortar came from Ty Mawr in Brecon and is sustainably sourced, all tradesmen who worked on the building & yards came from within 10 miles of the house, the master builder was the craftsman employed to repair Windsor Castle after the fire in recent years, and also worked at Balmoral, and many National Trust properties.
The house is heavily insulated in the walls, the roof and the floors. We used sheeps' wool insulation and wood fibre insulation in the walls and finished it with wood wool & lime hemp, all UK sourced. We used glapor (recycled glass), glaster (lime and re-cycled glass) and limecrete in the floors to insulate and house the underfloor heating, and re-covered it with the original flagstones and locally sourced oak floorboards.
Most of the furniture, if not already owned, has been bought locally or made from an old walnut tree that fell down in the field in front of the house… and, where required, has been repaired locally in Presteigne or Knighton.
Linen is laundered by our ecologically friendly launderers, and line dried.
Landscaping and plants are all sourced locally from local growers and gardeners. A little helping hand came from the UK charity Streetscape as well, whose apprentices spent a week in the country (from London) making Alexander’s Tump, the wildflower hillock.
Laundry detergents, washing up liquid and cleaning products are all ecologically friendly to preserve the balance of the local environment.
The meadows and yard closest to the house have been laid to wildflower, and are cut and managed traditionally. Turf for the new lawns was grown locally.
Electricity is drawn from solar panels and drives the house's electricity needs including aga, and other ancillary items. Water is heated by solar thermal energy & central & underfloor heating is from a ground source heat pump, drawing heat via two boreholes from the earth. Rainwater is recycled from the barn roofs for use in the lavatories and to water the garden. A wood burning stove, burning wood sourced on the farm, and open fire add further renewable heat.
All timber (primarily oak) used in the repair work was sourced locally, lime mortar came from Ty Mawr in Brecon and is sustainably sourced, all tradesmen who worked on the building & yards came from within 10 miles of the house, the master builder was the craftsman employed to repair Windsor Castle after the fire in recent years, and also worked at Balmoral, and many National Trust properties.
The house is heavily insulated in the walls, the roof and the floors. We used sheeps' wool insulation and wood fibre insulation in the walls and finished it with wood wool & lime hemp, all UK sourced. We used glapor (recycled glass), glaster (lime and re-cycled glass) and limecrete in the floors to insulate and house the underfloor heating, and re-covered it with the original flagstones and locally sourced oak floorboards.
Most of the furniture, if not already owned, has been bought locally or made from an old walnut tree that fell down in the field in front of the house… and, where required, has been repaired locally in Presteigne or Knighton.
Linen is laundered by our ecologically friendly launderers, and line dried.
Landscaping and plants are all sourced locally from local growers and gardeners. A little helping hand came from the UK charity Streetscape as well, whose apprentices spent a week in the country (from London) making Alexander’s Tump, the wildflower hillock.
Laundry detergents, washing up liquid and cleaning products are all ecologically friendly to preserve the balance of the local environment.
The meadows and yard closest to the house have been laid to wildflower, and are cut and managed traditionally. Turf for the new lawns was grown locally.