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Orange News - August 2008
5 of the best eco escapes
August 2008 - Natural Health
Where to visit, stay and even buy
August 2008 - BBC Good Homes
Not just Emmerdale
30th August 2008 - Irish Times
Natural Retreats flourish in the Yorkshire Dales
18th August 2008 - Easier Travel
Ecoplan promise
14th August, 2008 – Daily Post
Survival launches raffle in aid of Penan
Survival International – August 11, 2008
Recycle Orange News and win a luxury eco-holiday!
Orange News - August 2008
So you found out what’s happening at Orange, and what the future holds. You’ve enjoyed the gossip, entered the competitions and even spotted the hidden message. Now we’ve got a fab luxury eco-break from naturalretreats.com to give away as a prize. All you have to do is recycle this newspaper in the most imaginative, green and ingenious way possible. Papering your loo? Composting? Just send a photo of your recycling. Send entries in to orangenews@orange-ftgroup.com by 9 September, and we’ll print the best.
5 of the best eco escapes
August 2008 - Natural Health
Can’t face yet another bargain-based flight to a jam-packed beach on the Med this summer? Opt for the gentle pleasures of a British holiday and flaunt your green cred with pride!
Best for kids…
Natural Retreats, Richmond in North Yorkshire
There is nothing like bringing the beautiful outdoors inside. With panoramic glass frontages the first group of residences by Natural Retreats does just that allowing in the greenness and light of the Swale Valley. The ten sustainably built lodges are carefully tucked into the Yorkshire Dales hillside where even the locals fail to spot them. The residences are all self-contained and the founders decided not to provide onsite shops or bars to encourage guest to venture out to the nearby Georgian market town of Richmond. Not only is the local economy benefiting, but it means that the area around the lodges is quiet and peaceful for both wildlife and guests alike.
Upon arrival you are greeted with a sizeable hamper filled with delicious local and organic produce along with a stack of wood to get the wood-burning stove going. The main living space is open plan with high spec furnishings. Despite the odd luxuries like TV and DVD players, the residences tried hard to maintain a sense of sustainability. Full recycling facilities are provided along with natural cleaning products. Mountain bikes are available for hire and children are positively idolised at the lodge and not only have 54 acres to run around in but also a nature trail to explore and an area where they can build dens.
Where to visit, stay and even buy
August 2008 - BBC Good Homes
Stay in.
A Luxury Eco Retreat
Natural Retreats offers luxury holidays and short breaks for all the family in eco-friendly developments scattered across some of the UK's most dramatic regions. The contemporary houses are all built with locally sourced, sustainable materials and overlook gorgeous rural landscapes. The company aims to have retreats within or alongside, all of the UK's 14 National Park by 2001. Meanwhile, its Yorkshire Dales site has just re-opened after refurbishment.
Architecturally astounding, it will be located on the edge of the lake with a decking area projecting over the water, giving the impression that the structure floats.
Natural Retreats plan to have established sites in or around all 14 of the UK’s National Parks and with the acquisition of this site in the North York Moors, they are already well on their way.
Not just Emmerdale
30th AUgust 2008 - Irish Times
CYCLING AND RECYCLING Catherine Mack's son Hugo at Natural Retreats. Photograph: Catherine Mack
GO ENGLAND: There's more to rural Yorkshire than you might think, as Catherine Mack discovers
THEY SAY THE CAMERA never lies, and the website photographs of Natural Retreats' designer wooden lodges, tucked into the Yorkshire Dales like birds' nests, were enough to make my jaw drop.
As we approached the real thing, at the height of tourist season but along an almost deserted road in one of England's northernmost national parks, the Kevin McCloud wannabe in me was almost chomping at the bit to see these cedar creations.
Natural Retreats is aptly named; its grey slate sign, set subtly into a drystone wall, was so natural we almost missed the turn. When we took the sweeping driveway down to the retreat I thought I had missed the houses, too, as there was nothing to be seen at first.
Then my husband let out a gasp as he spotted the bronze-coloured wooden structures in the valley below, peaking out between the pines and ferns. They were gobsmackingly gorgeous, to use a technical term. Our children, two boys of five and nine, jumped out and ran down the hill, in a Sound of Music meets Emmerdale sort of a moment.
The hills stretched out before us, dipping into valley after valley, flower-filled hedgerows concealing hay bales, perfectly placed as if for a painting.
Views such as this usually bode well for a holiday, but we had booked for only two nights, en route for a camping session on the other side of Yorkshire, towards the coast. I know the tradition is to book into a place with a bath after the camping holiday, not before, but we were in bits after recent work stresses, and we thought that a couple of days to unwind before tackling any canvas and poles might be a good idea.
The minute we stepped inside our wooden house, with its floor-to-ceiling glass windows, gleaming white walls, designer sofas, open-plan kitchen and wood-burning stove, we knew nothing had been spared on five-star luxury. We opened our complimentary bottle of wine, part of a welcome hamper of local and Fairtrade goodies, and raised a glass to the best start to any camping trip.
There are 18 of these wooden houses, so carefully positioned for minimal impact on this protected landscape that I couldnt find them all, even using one of the walking maps designed for Natural Retreats. I am sure one or two were still lurking behind a bit of woodland somewhere.
Ours was one of the more public ones, at the foot of the woodland, beside three natural ponds developed out of the spring that provides water for the site. We had moorhens and herons for company, as well as a few frogs to keep our boys happy, as they watched them jump from one pond to another, then dart under the houses.
This was all part of the ecodesign, as the houses are built on decking that sits on three strips of concrete, in order to maintain a natural living environment underneath.
The roofs are alive, too, covered with sedum moss that was turning a soft strawberry pink as the wild flowers came to life.
There were a few other houses beside us, which was great for the children, who immediately made friends and were soon cycling from house to house.
Public or private, you won't be spending much time inside your hideaway, as the countryside seems to pull you towards it like a magnet here. This was the aim of the land's owner, Matt Spence, a sheep farmer and "national park addict". He rightly wanted to show off his homeland, in a way that was not only kind to his beloved Swaledale but also contemporary and classy. He has certainly pulled this off.
Natural Retreats was criticised recently for selling itself as an ecofriendly destination and having Tropicana in its welcome pack. But ecotourism is also about community development. Natural Retreats has reeled Yorkshire Dales tourism into the 21st century, and it will entice a new generation of tourists to this area. It works hand in hand with, and has gained huge respect from, the local community. The welcome hamper (the Tropicana well and truly gone) is from the local grocer, Ken Warne, whose wonderful shop we visited the next day.
One of those grocers who wears dark green overcoats, he has the most eclectic range of fine produce on his shelves, to meet the demands of his adoring customers. (He had been on the verge of closing before Natural Retreats passed its hamper business on to him.)
Just about everyone employed on this 22-hectare (54- acre) site, from managers to master joiners, drystone-wall craftsmen to furniture designers, is local. Ecotourism is not all about ecofriendly light bulbs, recycling and woodburners. Although all these are on offer, too - not forgetting the natural insulation, rainwater harvesting and wood-management system. Solar power was not allowed on planning grounds, unfortunately, although the passive solar heating from the huge windows is enough to dry your walking boots in a few hours.
Walking into the buzzing local market town of Richmond was the best way to sample the Dales in a day. It is described as a 20-minute walk, but you will be lucky to do it in this time unless you are totally unmoved by the scenery en route. Which is unlikely. We took about three hours, mainly because we stopped along the banks of the River Swale to plunge into its icy waters and swim from one bank to the other, where someone had kindly hung a rope swing. Then on through glimmering glades right up to the towering cliffs that support the impressive remains of Richmond's Norman castle. Boy heaven.
After a tour of the castle - a must for views all the way across to the North York Moors - we had an early dinner at the town's converted railway station, Seasons, where Yorkshire rarebit or Whitby fish and chips is highly recommended for swimmers and knights.
We had only two regrets at Natural Retreats. One was that we hadn't gone the whole natural hog and come by train. You can take one from Holyhead to Crewe, change for Manchester and, finally, catch the stunning TransPennine Express to Darlington, a 20-minute taxi ride away, and arrange for mountain bikes to be delivered to your door. The other regret was, quite simply, that we hadn't booked for longer.
• A five-night stay at Natural Retreats (00-44-161-2422970 or www.naturalretreats.com) starts at £880 (about €1,110) per six-person lodge. A two-night stay (the minimum) starts at £325 (about €410). Prices include a food hamper, logs, linen and towels
Ecoplan promise
14th August, 2008 – Daily Post
By David R. Jones
PLANS to develop an eco-friendly holiday complex near Dolgellau could pump more than £1m directly into the Snowdonia economy every year.
The proposals, recently submitted for planning permission by sustainable tourism specialists Natural Retreats, are expected to bring in an additional estimated £2.5m of indirect revenue per annum.
The scheme would involve redevelopment and environ-mental improvements at the former Gwynfynydd Goldmine and Ty Mawr site in Ganllwyd, including the erection of two self-catering short-term holiday units and 22 luxury eco-lodges.
A drop-in event will be held at Ty Siamas, Dolgellau, from 12-7pm today so local people may view the plan.
Survival launches raffle in aid of Penan
Survival International – August 11, 2008
Survival International has launched its 2008 Raffle in aid of the Penan and other threatened tribal peoples around the world. This year’s top prize is a luxury two-night stay for up to six people in the stunning Yorkshire Dales, generously donated by eco-friendly NATURAL RETREATS.
With last year’s raffle, Survival raised over £18,000 to fund its urgent campaign for uncontacted tribes. The campaign has already had a big impact.
In Peru, the government has dropped plans to open up uncontacted Indians’ lands to oil exploration, while Brazil has protected the Rio Pardo territory, home to a tiny group of Indians on the verge of extinction. And in May and June this year, following the release of pictures of an uncontacted tribe taken from the air, the issue was discussed in the media worldwide, making millions of people aware of the threats to isolated peoples.
The Penan tribe are Borneo’s last nomads. Their lush rainforests in Sarawak, Malaysia, are being cut down at a terrifying rate. When they protest, they are arrested. Thousands of hectares of forest have gone already.
This year, secret plans were revealed to build a series of massive hydroelectric dams, which will submerge the homes of at least a thousand Penan and other tribal people.
Tribes like the Penan have rights to their ancestral land. If these rights are respected, tribal people have a future. This year’s raffle aims to help make sure their voices are heard.