Green credentials

Practical Caravan Top 100 Best Green Site Award

We take our commitment to the environment seriously and our Somerset touring park has been developed with ecology at the forefront of everything that we do.

Our aim at Old Oaks is to minimise our impact on resources while enhancing the natural environment surrounding us for the benefit of all.

From foxes and badgers to the abundance of bees, birds and butterflies, our park is simply teeming with life. A perfect destination for your environmentally friendly holidays.

We have an old Victorian style reed bed which was the predecessor to our treatment plant (not on mains sewerage), which filters waste water from the plant in a natural, chemical-free way whilst providing an excellent habitat for wildlife.  Our plan is to create an area for guests to enjoy this space soon.

There are recycling points for almost all types of waste, situated around the park, which we strongly encourage our customers to use as much as possible.

Our focus going forward will be to further reduce our plastic waste.

Our efforts have been recognised by the fact we’ve won the David Bellamy Gold Conservation award for environmental excellence for 15 years. We also scooped the David Bellamy Special Distinction Award in recognition of the green technology used in the development of our shower block, Middle Oaks, a few years back.

What makes our park so environmentally friendly?

Some of the things we’ve done around the park over the years include:

• Facilities blocks built using the latest energy efficient technologies, including solar thermal hot water system, heat recovery system, air source heat pump, very low energy LED lighting and much more
• All new installations of lighting and heating are sourced based on energy efficiency
• Ongoing hedge laying to encourage wildlife
• Sourcing local suppliers of local produce wherever possible
• Reducing our carbon footprint by providing a caravan storage facility, which reduces the number of cars and caravans on the local roads
• Lots of recycling points and bins with clear labelling
• Actively encouraging guests to recycle all their waste both on site and via our welcome booklet
• Investing in waste compacting equipment to reduce volume and transport costs of recycled materials
• Purchase of shredding machine in 2021 ~ benefits: less waste, no bonfires, , can shred card and paper, production of own compost
• Actively promoting local businesses, walks and attractions to encourage guests to stay local and reduce fuel emissions
• Keeping some areas wild to encourage wildlife
• Creating a woodland walk and wildflower meadow
• Transforming the reed into a wildlife area for guests to enjoy
• Extensive planting of native trees, shrubs and hedging over the years has helped to create a peaceful, green sanctuary for both people and wildlife alike
• Linking with local food providers to bring takeaways to the park, 5 days a week
• Milk dispensing machine ~ no more plastic milk bottles
• Sourcing as many day to day essentials in non-plastic containers as possible
• 5 new hedgehog houses for Winter 2019/2020