Leading luxury Worcestershire hotel, The Wood Norton, has unveiled a new sustainability pledge to proactively reduce its impact on the environment.
Originally built for French Royalty, The Wood Norton is a fine Grade II listed Victorian manor house located in the Vale of Evesham.
Committed to ‘going greener’, The Wood Norton has already made a series of positive steps in achieving its new ‘Green Pledge’, having removed all plastic straws, stirrers and plastic bottles from the bar, restaurant, and rooms, while replacing all gas kitchen appliances with electric or induction units.
Most recently, The Wood Norton has teamed up with Wood Norton Richmond Villages and SPE Ltd to install a new state of the art sewage treatment plant, which was approved by Wychavon Council and the Environmental Agency, and will significantly improve wastewater quality prior to discharging it into the environment.
Steve Sweeny, from The Wood Norton confirmed: “Over the past few years, we have been taking incremental steps to becoming a more sustainable business, and initially started by focusing on the small changes we could make that often get overlooked – like removing plastic drink stirrers.
“Once we had made those small, but crucial changes, we started to look at the bigger picture to see how we could make even more of an impact. This is where the partnership with Wood Norton Richmond Villages and SPE Ltd came to fruition. The new sewage plant with natural reed bed filtration improves water quality prior to discharging it into the environment, with the reeds encouraging microorganisms to digest the contaminants, removing them from the water.
“We have other, larger-scale plans in the pipeline to make our hotel greener, including the installation of solar panels so we can generate our own renewable energy, plus much more. As a hotel, we are continuing to look at our internal practices to ensure we are as sustainable and environmentally friendly as possible and are asking our guests to support us in achieving our Green Pledge objective.”
The hotel has already mapped out the next stages in its sustainable journey, including the review of its supply chain, together with the installation of a food composter to prevent kitchen waste and electric vehicle [EV] charging points within the hotel carpark.
With easy access to Worcester, Cheltenham and Stratford-Upon-Avon, The Wood Norton is popular with both visitors to the region and local residents alike, who are wowed by its 19th Century French decorative interiors, luxurious bedroom suites and extensive grounds and formal gardens.
Following the launch of its orangery in early 2014, The Wood Norton has become one of Worcestershire’s leading wedding venues and establishments for functions and corporate events.