Eco Barns

Luxurious Norfolk breaks with a sustainable ethos

When guests choose to stay in one of our luxury Eco-Barns, they discover properties designed and converted to high environmental standards and using energy from sustainable sources. The properties are surrounded by responsibly managed farmland formally in a Natural England Higher level stewardship scheme and now part of the Countryside Stewardship scheme.

The former 19^th century barns were restored and converted into sustainable holiday accommodation in 2009 and comprise of the following environmentally responsible features:

• Avocet & Coot Cottages are refurbished Victorian dairy barns & Garden House is a modern high spec metal framed wood and glass building built to replace a cart shed and grain silo.
• The buildings have been converted to be thermally efficient and as airtight as refurbished barns can be; and are economic in their use of energy.
• Approximately over 80% of the energy used during a guests stay in one of the Eco Barns comes from renewable sources generated on site from earth wind and sun.
• Hot water and space heating (underfloor) are provided a south facing solar thermal array and a ground source heat pump with an energy coefficient of 4:1.
• Electricity is supplemented by generation from the 20kW wind turbine with an average output of 20,000kWh/yr and 40 solar photovoltaic panels with an estimated output of 8270kWh/yr (SAP 2009).
• Electricity supplied to site is supplied by Ecotricity – Britain’s greenest energy supplier.
• Lighting is all either using innovative use of dimmable fluorescent tubes or the latest LED technology.
• In 2021 we added 2 electrical vehicle charging points to our lower car park.

Additional features:

• In 2014 we installed a 100kW biomass boiler district heating system to deliver fossil fuel free energy to the original 5 cottages and site facilities. In the process we removed 5 LPG gas boilers and the huge swimming pool oil boiler.
• The luxury indoor heated pool is heated with a 100 kW biomass boiler using recycled woodchip from smashed transportation pallets and arboricultural waste. Emissions from the boiler are absorbed by the surrounding woodland.
• Over 20,000 new hedge plants and trees have been planted in the gardens and on the surrounding Home Farm arable farmland.
• Water is supplied by the farms borehole coming from a deep chalk aquifer underground.
• Water used by our guests and the pool is recycled through the drainage and SUDS system and recycled through the aquifer and purified by UV and softened using an ion exchange system.
• Pool water is sanitised using a salination system and is not heavily chlorinated.
• Building materials have been recycled and reused as far as possible throughout the restoration of the barns at Cranmer Country Cottages.
• Waste is handled by a responsible waste disposal contractor with recycling at its core.
• Cleaning & housekeeping is carried out using ecologically sound cleaning & laundry products
• We work with local suppliers to deliver seasonal local produce for our welcome hampers and bespoke guest arrival meals.

See our carbon footprint report here

There is always more we can do as our business is constantly evolving.  Our journey continues as we look to hand on a truly sustainable business to the next generation.