Green/Ethical Credentials for The Estate
The Castle
Solar Panels: The electricity in The Castle is also supplemented by solar panels on the slope of the garden.
2 X 70 KW Biomass Boilers
Heating: The Castle is heated using 2 biomass boilers which are situated outside the house.
Hot Water: The hot water is also heated by these boilers and there are also solar thermal panels on the roof. The water is set to heat twice a day and is as hot as the boiler can make it, normally very hot.
Cleaning: Most of the cleaning in the castle is carried out using very hot water & soap and microfiber cloths and soda crystals. However, cleaning products have been supplied for your use. We also use an ozone machine for disinfecting the air.
Laundry: We use a charity (Hansel) that employs people with mental and physical disabilities to launder our towels and linens. They use large rollers to iron the linen and as a result, some of the duvet covers have lost their buttons.
The kitchen: The new kitchen was supplied by a local firm that manufactures kitchens in Cumnock, Ayrshire.
Dining table-top: was designed and manufactured by Character Joinery, a Kilmarnock firm.
Wellie Stands: The wellie stands in the hall are all made by a friend in Fenwick, who trades under the name of ‘Geographico’. The profits she makes go to a Scottish-based charity called “Mary’s Meals” which provides food for children in stricken parts of Africa. The coordinates on the stands are for Fenwick Village, and also for a village in Malawi where funds have been sent.
Insulation: All the attic and loft space in the castle has been insulated to prevent as much heat loss as possible through the roof.
Double glazing: The Castle is a fully A-listed building, which means we are only allowed to repair or modify it as it would have been back in the day. We are not allowed to alter anything structurally and this includes changing our windows from single-glazed to double. The limited double glazing that there is before listing came into being. Everywhere else we have secondary glazing which can be removed if required.
The Laird’s Table Café/Restaurant
Upcycling: The restaurant building is a second-hand modular building.
Heating: The heating is using water source heat pump, which uses the water in The Loch.
Solar Panels: We have an array of solar panels at the lochside of the building to supplement the electrical usage of The Laird’s Table.
Insulation and heat loss: The building is very well insulated and has been designed for minimum heat loss despite a wall of windows.
Locally sourced food: Our ethos for the restaurant is to use locally sourced food and as many small independent artisan businesses as possible.
Bees: We have several beehives on the estate including a couple on the roof of The Laird’s Table and at Craufurdland Woods, the eco-friendly, woodland burial ground.
Pollinators: The area in front of the Laird’s Table has been roped off and wildflowers sown and snowdrops and bluebells for our bees.
Worm wizard: The worms take care of our waste rather than a septic tank.
The Worm Poem
Please don’t think me crude
But to us worms it’s food
That’s Pee and Poo and paper
Everything else is for later
All because the Laird’s an environmental dude.
Woodlands and Gardens
Micro-organisms: The gardens and woodlands are managed organically as we believe that biodiversity starts with micro-organisms and soil health.
Bio-diversity: We leave standing deadwood and branch cuttings in the woodlands to provide a habitat for insects and ground nesting birds.
Many of our paths have been naturally created by people walking through the woods.
The bridges: The bridges that we do have in the woods are from the trees on the estate and have been milled in-house to keep our carbon footprint as low as possible by reducing the need for transport.
Some of the bridges have been built in conjunction with The Princess Trust from Ayrshire colleges.
Woodland Burial ground
Softer, gentler and kinder: Craufurdland Woods provides a natural funeral which is a softer, gentler and more mindful way of saying goodbye to your loved ones.
Tree, not a gravestone: In keeping with their environmental ethos, Craufurdland’s motto is ‘plant a tree not a gravestone’.
The graves are marked by the family planting a tree on the plot. The burial ground at Craufurdland is starting a new woodland, in existing pastures, giving back to nature by creating new life in a beautiful setting.
Deciduous Trees and plants: only deciduous trees and plants are planted at the burial ground.
