Sustainable Tourism in Lancashire

Today, sustainability and environmentalism have become more important than ever. Scientific consensus strongly indicates human causes are behind climate change. In the tourism industry, there is movement towards an increasing number of socially aware consumers who look out for businesses who market themselves as being ‘green’.

While we welcome the sustainable tourism trend here at Moss Wood Caravan Park in Lancashire, we have always taken our environmental responsibilities very seriously. Today we are more environmentally friendly than we have ever been, but we are always looking to improve.

Despite today’s consensus however, it was not always clear exactly what was meant to be ‘sustainable’. At Moss Wood we have adopted the definition as laid out by the Brunland Commission of the United Nations in March 1987:

Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

This guides us today and forms the headline to our Environmental and Sustainability Policy.

Minimising our impact

To follow these principles, we work hard to minimise our impact on the local environment. For example, rain water is collected from buildings and used where fresh water isn’t necessary. Water and electricity usage is metered across the site. It is closely monitored to enable us to quickly flag up and fix any leaks. It can also highlight other problems causing unnecessary wastage. Recycling bins are used for waste and recycled paper is used in the office.

Landscape work done on site is always done with local wildlife in mind. Trees and hedges are only cut at the times of year least likely to disturb wildlife. For example a strip at the bottom of the hedgerows are always left untouched to protect vulnerable habitats and most hedges are cut on a two-yearly cycle to allow them to most effectively pollinate. Areas of grass are allowed to grow free with no interference. We’ve also planted locally sourced native plant species, all encourage the growth of natural wildlife.

Sustainable Tourism

We focus on bumblebees and other pollinators in our planting strategy. With a range of native plants brought in, Moss Wood can cater for this vital part of the ecosystem. This encompasses the early season right through to the late season. All thanks to a natural mix of plants which produce pollen at different times of the year.

As part of our sustainability work with pollinators, we monitor the bumblebee population on site with monthly bee surveys which are used as part of a national monitoring scheme run by the Bumblebee Conservation Trust. We were proud to win the Lancashire Tourism Awards in 2019 in the sustainable tourism category, as well as being finalists in this category a further three times in the last four competition years.

We also achieved the Gold award for the David Bellamy Conservation Award Scheme for over 20 consecutive years, with additional recognition for being bee friendly. The scheme has since evolved to become the David Bellamy Blooming Marvellous Pledge for Nature – and we have continued to be at the forefront of the industry’s work in becoming ever more eco-friendly and environmentally sustainable.

As of July 2023 we are proud to have achieved the Bronze level of the internationally recognised Green Tourism scheme. We look forward to continuing to progress and aim to eventually achieve the Gold level of sustainability.

We take a great deal of pride in trying to let our guests get involved in our sustainable activities! Our good work from previous years has continued but with additional focuses on other important areas such as hedging. Our nature trail helps our guests to delve down into the wildlife found all around our park and our interactive guides let everyone add their finds to the list, with even a red squirrel being spotted and photographed!

We have done our best throughout the year to encourage everyone to get involved with little steps to improve our environment for nature, and many of you have got involved in the RSPB Wild Challenge through us with the most active on the park to be awarded the Wild Trophy at the end of the season in recognition of their services to native wildlife!

Events throughout the year have taken place to highlight how you can have a fantastic time at Moss Wood. This includes how you can enjoy your caravan and help the environment at the same time. The highlight of our year is the annual Wild Day which is always an outstanding success, giving so many of our guests the chance to see the work we are doing, the work of local conservation groups such as the Wildlife Trust, and learn how to have fun doing more yourselves.

We have continued to build on our track record with more work to further compliment our local environment. We have converted an area of the park into a small nature reserve, complete with scrapes for wading birds.

We have also welcomed a hive of native bees to Moss Wood for the through working in partnership with the Lancaster branch of the British Beekeepers Association, improving further the pollination on site and has even provided us with honey made right here on the park! Keep your eyes peeled for more updates going forward…

We always welcome input into our drive towards truly sustainable tourism, so please get in touch with any ideas you think we might try out, by emailing neil@mosswood.co.uk

If you like our ethos, perhaps you would be interested in seeing whether we have any static caravans for sale which might suit you?