Sustainability

Minimising our environmental impact…

Darley House has the limitation of being an historic house built of gritstone in the 1800s, however, we are constantly looking at ways to reduce our environmental footprint.  This was the case from the outset with our restoration work and has been the case subsequently, through the re-investment of our rental income.

• When restoring Darley House we replaced every window with wooden sash double-glazed units. We put in under-floor heating on the ground floor and purchased 50 – 60 bags of sheep’s wool to insulate the loft.
• The kitchen wing was entirely rebuilt with double course wall insulation. The original gritstone was reused for the facade and the remaining extra layer used to build a beautiful garden shed near our rear patio and BBQ area.
• All our restoration work was done by local contractors and that is the case for ongoing maintenance and project work.
• You can read more about our sensitive restoration of Darley House in a Derbyshire Life article published in March 2015.
• In 2021 we installed a 22 Kw Zappi EV charger. This involved putting in 3 phase electrical supply and some significant trench digging.
• In 2024 we installed solar panels on our south facing rooves which, due to their positioning and the parapet-style roof, are not visible from the ground.  The roof sections were retiled with the 13 solar panels becoming an integral part of the roof rather than sitting on top. On sunny days in spring and summer we can generate 25 – 30 Kwhrs/day and charge our 18kw batteries for night time energy usage. See photo below.
• We have remote control of the heating enabling us to save energy and make sure the house temperature is right for our guests.
• We use Raindrop zero plastic hand soaps in glass dispensers.  Tablets are mixed with water meaning minimum packaging and no refill containers.
• Our cleaning team use eco-friendly cleaning products.
• We give our guests 100% natural hand-made travel-size boxed soaps & suggest they bring their own shampoo & conditioner.
• We use recycled toilet paper from Who Gives A Crap.
• We use low energy light bulbs.
• We have large containers in the kitchen making it easy for guests to recycle glass, paper, cans and plastics.
• Our welcome hamper comes from local producers.
• We ask guests to only have the heating on in the rooms when needed.
• We are fortunate to be accessible by public transport. Matlock station is 2 miles away and we are on the main bus route from Matlock to Bakewell.