With the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference COP26 currently underway in Glasgow it might be the impetus needed to encourage more businesses, large and small, to consider ways to operate whilst having a low impact on the environment.
But one business that has always had the environment at its heart is Coes Faen Lodge, securing environmental awards for the creative owners and illustrating how a boutique hotel can operate successfully with commitment to green processes and products at its core.
Surrounded by a beautiful landscape, the property on the Mawddach Estuary near Barmouth, Gwynedd has been developed over the past 10 years by the owners to be connected with the environment and nature – and not just via the views.
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It's this commitment by the owners and the staff to the hotel's environmental ethos that has led this establishment to secure two major awards in two years.
Coes Faen Lodge was the winner of the Good Hotel Guide's Editor's Choice for eco-friendly hotels in 2019 and the Good Hotel Guide 2021 Caesar award as the Green Hotel of the Year.
Ten César awards are presented each year to a selection of hotels across the country which have demonstrated consistent excellence in their field. Named after César Ritz, these are known as the Oscars of the hotel industry.
Owner Sara Parry-Jones says that development of The Lodge has always had consideration for the environment at its heart and been a driving force for some creative thinking too.
She lists involving the natural world around the hotel, always looking at ways to reduce the impact on the environment, and the emphasis on excellent customer service to ensure a luxurious stay for guests as aspects of the business that secured the awards.
Sara says: "These are in the DNA of this historic property, the stunning landscape, and the incredible staff, because without excellent service then it is just a building. It's the people that make the experience so we're very proud and grateful to them.
"All we can all do is try and improve and lessen the footprint and hopefully our experience shows that you can have a successful, sustainable business. You can take little steps to achieve it and think of ways to help our planet."
Aspects that contributed to the hotel's success that resulted in winning the awards include solar panels and a biomass boiler using wood salvaged from the grounds of the lodge, while any building work used stone sourced from the lodge's land.
The hotel has black vacuum tube solar water heating and storage tanks, computer controlled low voltage LED lighting, underfloor insulation, a computer-controlled water heating system and using rainwater capture for toilet flushing.
A portion of the extensive grounds has been left to the local wildlife and there's also an electric car charging point that guests can use for free.
Of course it has a hot tub, this is a luxury adults-only retreat, but even that has as low an impact as possible, being disinfected using UV filtration and heated from the biomass boiler using heat exchanger technology.
Maybe the most surprising environmentally-sound feature of the lodge is the source of the roof insulation – Welsh sheep.
Sara explains: "The roofs are insulated with sheep wool, in the loft space, because sheep's wool is a wonderful natural material for all sorts of things.
"It's naturally fire retardant and it keeps our woolly friends very warm on the Welsh mountains in winter and equally it does an excellent job in keeping our homes insulated.
"Plus when it comes to the end of its life, it is recycled very easily – there's no plastic or nasties going into landfill."
Sara says the practical aspects of being an environmentally-focused hotel is fairly hidden from view for guests and, apart from promoting the use of locally-sourced food and produce, it's not something that is preached about or highlighted to those who come to stay.
But it does prove that running a successful luxury hotel business does not have to hugely impact the environment.
When redeveloping the building, the choice was made to work with nature that surrounded the property rather than altering it, with the best example probably the mesmerising water feature in the glass lobby area.
Sara says: "There was a whacking great big piece of rock at the back which is beautiful and so we wanted to retain it and so we've made it into a lit water feature adding a tranquil sound to the space."
As with many of the features designed by the wowners during the five-year renovation project, this rock face and entrance is practical as well as beautiful, as an answer to any flooding problems in the future.
Clever design has turned a perceived negative into something unique and beautiful.
Sara says: "At some point water will want to find its way into the building, as water does, and now it's got a conduit – we can steer it through the water feature and out to the estuary."
But due to unforeseen circumstances Coes Faen Lodge is now for sale and although so much work has already been done to create a business with low environmental impact, Sara hopes the new owner will continue the work to not only introduce new aspects but be creative to find solutions too.
She says looking for ways to be greener "should never stop" and is the driving force that sets this hotel apart from its rivals.
The property a new owner will be buying is a Victorian building that was once two cottages.
They were originally built for the housekeeper and the coachman of the estate's manor house called Coes Faen Hall, known locally as the Clock House, which is also for sale - find out more about that here.
The six ensuite bedrooms and two apartments inside Coes Faen Spa Lodge all have their own personality and design but the standard of luxury the couple wanted to achieve runs throughout the whole property.
From mesmerising iridescent tiling and plush velvet to the use of natural materials as much as possible, the promotion of the natural surroundings to invoke calmness was at the core of the interior design choices.
Sara says: "We wanted to use natural materials as locally sourced as possible and we got a lot of inspiration from Italy who are very good at modernising old buildings and fusing the two together.
"So if you like we fused ideas from Italy, Wales, and Scandinavia but because the main show here are the views from each of the rooms – you look out over to the estuary and the mountains – we didn't want to compete with that in any way."
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The ground floor, as well as that amazing glass reception and entrance has a large dining room open to non-residents as well as a guests, a sitting room, commercial kitchen and an ensuite bedroom designed to be wheelchair accessible.
The property also comes with stables so although the lodge was developed to be a peaceful retreat free of children, guests can bring their horse on holiday too and make use of the hotel's access to the bridal paths that surround it.
The lodge comes with almost 16 acres of land including a pretty terraced garden that's a tranquil area for guests to discover, the wildlife area, lots of woodland and access to countryside trails beyond.
The location is one of the property's other main selling points, combined with its green credentials.
As the glorious Mawddach estuary meets the sea and the towering peaks of Snowdonia and the Cader Idris range dominate the horizon and the start of the Snowdonia National Park is only about 500 metres away.
The location is spectacular - nature at its finest - and Sara has proven that with care, thought and the desire to always innovate, respect for nature can be at the core of a successful hotel business.
Coes Faen Lodge is for sale with a guide price of £1,350,000 with Strutt and Parker Shrewsbury, call them on 01743 284200 to find out more.
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