Are staycations better for the environment?
There are lots of reasons why owning your own UK holiday home makes sense. Perhaps more than ever. But over and above the joys of UK scenery and attractions, the chance to share time with family and friends, and the financial sense of investing a UK holiday home, there’s something else - it’s green. Yes, owning your own holiday home, quite close to home, benefits the entire planet.
Sustainability is such a key factor to travel these days and a UK holiday home is always on the green list. Some green gains are obvious when you think about it, and some are a bit less straightforward, but they all make a difference.
1. OWNING A SUFFOLK LODGE BY THE SEA MEANS LESS TIME IN THE SKY
When you own your own UK holiday home, you use less air miles. Essential business trips and visits to distant friends and family will mean that we never completely remove air travel from our lives. The world would come to a standstill. But, we can reduce dramatically the amount of air miles we use.
Air miles are not good for the planet. It’s as simple as that. Making fewer journeys by plane will help in the fight against climate change. If you own your own UK holiday home, you do need to travel to it of course. If you’ve made the switch to an electric car you’re helping even more. But this is worth considering, even if you travel to your holiday home by conventional car you’re making less environmental impact than when you fly abroad. It’s been calculated that even without factoring in buses, trains and public transport, conventional motoring does less damage than flying. Four hours in a jet generates an equivalent rate of carbon emissions to what your car produces in around ten weeks. So yes, be mindful, but trips to your UK holiday home, even by car, are greener than going abroad by air.
Our leisure time is a massive opportunity to do just that. Owning your own UK holiday home means you fly less. Suffolk holiday homes or caravans by the sea; all the available options for a staycation mean you’ll be greener as each year passes.
2. WHEN YOU’RE NEAR THE BROADS, YOU STAY NEAR THE BROADS
We can’t deny that UK travel is still a relatively complicated picture. You’ve invested in your own UK holiday home so you’re flying less, but you still have to drive to your holiday home. If you’ve gone electric you’re making big progress. Interestingly though, even if you drive to your holiday home in a petrol or diesel powered car, the chances are that once you’ve arrived you won’t use the car again while you’re there.
Having your own UK holiday home is very much about getting to know the surrounding area, taking it easy and simply strolling around. Or, simply sitting still, of course. You’ll just tend not to make car journeys from your holiday home. When you spend time at your own UK holiday home you’re far more likely to enjoy the simple pleasures while you’re there. Pleasures like walking and cycling. And the good news here is that simple activities like walking and cycling are good for you and good for the planet.
Or you might have to take the huge journey to the beach; those few steps can take it out of you, it’s a hard life sometimes! Let’s face it, a good old-fashioned day at the beach ticks a lot of boxes. You can swim. You can paddle. You can build sandcastles and fly a kite. Or you can just stretch out to catch some sun. Be careful and get factored up of course but you could actually go a nice shade of tan - while you’re being green. How cool is that?
3. BECAUSE IT’S YOUR SUFFOLK COTTAGE BY THE SEA, IT’S YOUR CHOICE OF GADGETS.
And because it’s your choice, you can make them greener. This isn’t about the hotel room anymore and it’s not about replacing a light bulb you broke in the self catering apartment. This is your place; your very own holiday home by the sea. You might let it out of course (yes, you can actually make extra income as well) and if you do that’s quite green too. You’re helping another family save on air miles and be more green. But as it is your place you can choose to use the greenest LED light bulbs and the most energy efficient appliances. You can make your holiday home a green destination at the end of a green journey.
4. THERE ARE BAGS OF IDEAS FOR HOLIDAY HOMES BY THE SEA
And they start with bags. Whether they are for you or your guests, reusable bags and shopping bags are a simple, cheap, way of helping the environment. Chances are you’re going to use local markets and shops when you’re at your holiday home. Now we mention it, using local shops and markets (especially for food) is very green in itself. Avoiding singly use plastic is a good thing to do as the same thinking applies to using reusable water bottles, avoiding throw away drinking straws and not using plastic cups.
5. FROM A SUFFOLK CARAVAN PARK TO A MABLETHORPE CHALET PARK - SHARING HELPS SHIFT THE BALANCE
One of the great pleasures of owning your own UK holiday home is that you can share time there with family and friends. Or you can share it with them by letting them spend time there when you’re not. And of course, at other times, you can let it out to paying guests. More time with the family and additional income; you can see why more and more people are opting for owning their own UK holiday home. But, think of it this way. Every time someone in your family spends their holiday in your holiday home, and every time another family rents your UK holiday home, it’s another time that someone is not making another air journey. It’s all helping.
6. UK HOLIDAYS MEAN GREENER FOOD LOCAL FOOD
And again, don’t panic. This is not a warning that from this moment on your entire holiday food intake will be lettuce, or cabbage. We understand that this may not make you popular with everybody in the family. There is though some reason for alarm.
It’s air miles again. It’s not just people who use up air miles. Massive amounts of our food gets moved around the world by air. Cutting down our ‘food miles’ is an important way of helping the planet. And a holiday at your own UK holiday home is a brilliant opportunity to shop and eat locally. What that means is that you’re tasting the food that’s local to your holiday home, and learning about the area, at the same time as enjoying tasty meals.
And, you’re helping the local economy of the area at the same time as reducing the amount of food miles because you’re not buying food that’s been flown in. And look around. The UK is blessed with lots of fantastic food markets. A trip around the stalls can be a really great part of your UK holiday. What’s better than going back to your own holiday home loaded with fresh local fruit, vegetables, fish and local delicacies? Well, eating that fresh local fruit, vegetables, fish, and local delicacies, that’s what. And helping the planet while you do it. Result!
7. CARAVAN HOLIDAYS MEAN LESS GAS
Does that sound weird? Gas as a fuel and caravans have tended to go together. But what we’re talking about here is greenhouse gas. And it’s greenhouse gas and tourism that go together. Almost 8% of our greenhouse gas emissions are attributable to tourism. Those emissions, so dangerous for our planet, come from a wide spread of tourism factors, such as transport, food, shopping, and hotels. So, staying in the uk, in your own static caravan holiday home, will have a direct impact on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. There’s something else too.
When you’re travelling to and from an overseas hotel, you’re not just using the aircraft, you’re using the airports. And airports, worldwide, generate scary amounts of plastic and waste. So, as odd as it looks at first glance, the fact is that holidaying in your own UK caravan holiday home means less gas.
Uk holiday homes are an investment in your future
Simple things can help too. Things like leaving details of local public transport for your guests and providing them with reusable shopping bags or pointing them towards those local food markets. As for yourselves, there are simple things for you too. If you’re going out for the day, especially for a walk or to the beach, take reusable water bottles so as not to create waste and litter.
But this isn’t about lecturing you. This is about reminding you that owning your own UK holiday home is a great idea, and more than that - it’s a green idea.
Each and every idea contributes to the bigger picture. No single idea will save our planet on its own. But all of these simple things are part of the concept of owning your own UK holiday home. And that is a bigger concept. It’s a concept that’s gaining traction every day.
As more and more people realise the financial benefits of investing in a UK holiday home and the pleasure to be gained from the coasts and countryside of the UK, the ownership of UK holiday homes becomes very much the future.
And, as more and more people realise the benefits to the environment that come with less air travel and less use of airports, the idea of UK holiday home ownership becomes very much part of the future of our planet.
Why not invest in your future now?
