Ashdown Forest Llama Park: Environmental Policy

Ashdown Forest Llama Park was established in 1996. We are a 32 acre farm and breed llamas and alpacas for sale as well as operating as a visitor attraction. Our aim is to breed and sell good quality llamas and alpacas, kept to the highest standards of husbandry, and to educate the public about these beautiful and peaceful animals.
The Park is located in Ashdown Forest and the High Weald AONB.

A. Overall Aim

We are committed to the principles of sustainable tourism. It is our aim to farm our land in a way sympathetic to the local environment and to run the tourism part of the business in a complementary way. Our operating procedures are constantly under review. All staff are involved in this process and make suggestions for improvement. Our environmental policy covers all aspects of our business activity, both the farm and the visitor centre.

B. Objectives and Action

1. Legal Compliance
We are committed to meeting our obligations under environmental legislation.

2. Farming/Livestock
We farm the land with the minimal use of artificial fertilisers and herbicides. Our weed control is largely undertaken by mechanical means but we do use a small amount of glyphosate to control docks, nettles and thistles. Manure from the livestock buildings is spread back on to the land.
We have considered organic criteria but feel that we could not subscribe to pure organic standards of land and animal management. We need flexibility to deal with the health and welfare of our livestock. Too little is known about the veterinary care of llamas and alpacas in the UK to compromise the normal veterinary practices of parasite control and clostridial vaccination.

3. Energy Efficiency
All our buildings are well insulated, in particular the new visitor centre which was built with polystyrene building blocks, which are highly energy efficient. All the windows and doors in the new visitor centre are double glazed.
We use low energy light bulbs in as many places as possible throughout the visitor centre. Heating is effected by night storage heaters, which absorb heat during the night. We also use a large wood burning stove in the Coffee Shop which burns wood produced from the farm.

4. Recycling
We routinely recycle glass bottles, as well as cans and paper. We have a container in the picnic area, which encourages the public to also recycle their cans and bottles. We offer used storage containers, feed bags and baling twine to the public for reuse. All our baling twine from hay and straw bales are recycled in this way.
Overall our policy is to produce as little waste as possible. We do not use disposable items in the Coffee Shop apart from sugar, for which we do not think there is a practical alternative. We do not use pre-packaged jam, butter, pickles etc.
Our 5 goats very efficiently recycle kitchen ‘left overs’ demolishing any stale cakes and bread. We have erected compost heaps to compost salad and vegetable trimmings, eggshells, coffee grounds and tea bags.

5. Cleaning materials
We have now managed to source environmentally friendly cleaning products. We have found a range of products which are based on orange peel, which we now use extensively.

6. Shop Sales
We use recycled paper bags. We are trying to source recycled carrier bags.
Most items in our shop are imported from Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador. Most of our suppliers are committed to a Fair Trade policy, or buy direct from small producers.

7. Office
We use Evolve recycled paper in the office and our brochures are printed on either recycled paper, or paper produced from sustainably managed forests. We re-use as much waste office paper as possible for drafts, as scrap, or for order pads for the kitchen. All other office paper is recycled.

8. Farm and Gardens
We no longer use peat-based compost.
We rely heavily on manure from our livestock to fertilise the fields and gardens. Landscaping has been done sensitively using sleepers and mostly native trees and shrubs.

9. Minimise impact on local area
We use as much locally produced food as possible. We are actively involved with other local businesses in the Ashdown Forest Sustainable Tourism Project and actively support local community projects.

C. Resources and Responsibility

The policy is under the overall control of the owner, Linda Johnson, but all members of staff are actively involved in developing and implementing the policy. We actively encourage staff to make suggestions; our environmental policy is an integral part of our overall business plan, and resources will be made available as necessary.

D. Monitoring and Auditing

Data for electricity consumption will be monitored monthly and compared against previous years’ monthly figures. Water consumption will be monitored monthly and compared with previous years.

E. Communication

The policy is displayed on the notice board in the staff room.
The policy is also displayed on the notice board in our entrance, and on our website, www.llamapark.co.uk.

Linda Johnson, Proprietor
Updated 20^th January 2006