Eco-Friendly Success: Crafting a Sustainable STR Business Model

Hi, welcome back to the Boostly Podcast, the podcast that gives you the tools, the tactics, the training and most importantly, the confidence so you can go out there and get yourselves direct bookings on the Boostly podcast. We do the mini series where we dive into another host's business and usually we're looking for hosts who have got a successful business, a scalable business or something which really sticks out as something which the rest of us hosts can learn from. And that's exactly what we're doing today. There's an amazing, amazing host going to come on and share her story with us, how the business got started with the focus on sustainability and all the things that you can do within or what she's doing in her business that you might be able to think about in your business and to practice some of these awesome things to help draw more guests and ultimately make the world a better place. So I'm really excited to do this. We've got Emma here who is the joint owner of Mill Farm Eco Bonds. She's not too far away from me. She's based in Norfolk, in a really beautiful part of Norfolk, which I'm going to do my very best to everyone listening to this to come and come and stay in Norfolk and celebrate my local county. So welcome along, Emma. Thank you for joining me.

Thank you for having me.

So first question, can you give us a kind of elevator pitch of what the business is and anything you want to share around the business?

Right, so we run three, we have three eco holiday homes on the coast here in Norfolk. It's the beautiful part of Norfolk, as you say. We're near the beach, we're on nature reserve near the Broads National Park. So when we set the business up, we were like, right, we need to do something really special. We don't just want to be another holiday home business, which is why we've sort of, we kind of focused around the environmental science and we try and offer kind of luxurious stays that don't cross the earth and make our business as kind of sustainable as possible. That's kind of what we try to do.

That's cool. How did you get started? What gave you the kind of passion for this?

Yeah, it's a bit of a funny story, but me and my husband were living in Bristol. We had had our first child and I made an off the cuff comment like, you know, if we're ever going to do anything different other than working nine to five, we need to do it now. Because I was pregnant with my son, second daughter. I knew that on Paper. We had a. We were mortgageable, we could afford to buy somewhere, but we wouldn't be able to as soon as I had the second child, because I was pretty sure I was going to get made redundant. So we started looking in the Southwest. We were thinking about setting up a kind of green catering business. We're both environmental scientists and ecologists, that's our background. But the Southwest, this is going back 10 years back in 2012, and it was pretty obvious that there was no way we could afford a anywhere in the southwest of England. It was just. Everything was just massively expensive. So we turned our attention to the Norfolk coast and the little bit of Norfolk we're in is not too far from Great Yarmouth, so it's not in the really expensive North Norfolk bit. And we found this old sort of farmstead, really, an old cottage with some old buildings and we could afford it. So we very quickly bought a bit and then we. We decided to. Well, I went to maternity leave and it became obvious that we decided me to move here. So I applied for some European Union leader funding. Don't you've heard of that? So RDP funding and got a grant to set the business up as a center of sustainability. But we had like six months to do the development. So convert the barn, one of our first barns. We had to sell a house in a big hurry. We moved here with two tiny children and he was still working in Bristol. So that's kind of what. We started it sort of in a bit of a cloud of excitement, really, not really knowing what we were doing. And then we've been here for 10 years, ever since. So, yeah, that's how it all started off.

I mean, first of all, well done being brave and, you know, sort of making that switch, especially with two young children in tow and long travel distances. It sounds like you mentioned your kind of career within that. Just talk us through what that career is and obviously that's influenced your. Your stay, your hospitality offering.

Yeah, it's interesting because I kind of feel like I don't have a career anymore and everyone who says, who hears me say that, go, you know, what are you talking about? You've got this amazing business. But I used to be a director of a charity in Bristol which is focusing around organic food and farming, actually. So I had a strong interest in children's health and the environment, whereas my husband was in the water industry. So I kind of left that behind when we moved here and said this business dark and now I've become so Neil, my husband, was very much on the side of the building and I was very much on the side of the kind of operations and the marketing and all that. So I now do all the marketing, all the guest liaison, all the kind of finance side. Whereas Neil focuses more now, he has actually stopped working. He was working full time until very recently. He stopped working now. So he focuses more on the kind of landscaping and side of things. So it's quite a, for me it's been quite a sort of thing. I've done very much with my children, I've done, I've kind of sensed this stuff with young children. So I'm kind of at the point now where I want to use what we do to do something else, if you see what I mean. But it's kept me very occupied and I always tell people if I'd have known how hard it was to set this business up with two young children, I probably wouldn't have done it. But before I did it I didn't know. But it's been great in many respects. It's kept us busy and it's a thriving business now. We're very proud of it. So to a large extent it's really worked for us.

That's cool. That's cool. And I know before you enter, I mean any business, there's always that moment. I follow Alex Harmozi who's a marketer and he always says there's always the perception before you get in, you're excited and just going, hey, this is going to work out. You see all the good and that you need at the start to, to manage to build it in the first place. Because it's only once you get into any business that you get into the weeds and you know, all the stuff that comes with the business. But what you've built there, there looks amazing. And we're definitely going to dive into some of the kind of the marketing and the day to day running. But the thing that I really want to speak about today is the sustainability and the hospitality side of things and how those two go hand in hand. So I guess my first question is I think I get why you wanted to make it sustainable, but how has that helped you and how do guests perceive the sustainability when they come along?

Well, yeah, it's a really interesting question. You know, I think we obviously it's front and center of what we do. You know, we're called Mill Farm Ecoban so we're quite proud of what we do. We've always tried to make it feel like it's part of a sign of quality of our business. So it's not that you're having to compromise when you come here. You know that what you're getting is a fabulous quality experience. And I think that's probably really central to what we need. Do we love people to love it? And when they come here and they get it as well as love it, that's even better because we live on site, so we interact with our guests, we meet them, we see them, we chat with them and we give them advice. So they're often very interested in what we've done. So they'll talk to us about our solar panels, they'll talk to us about our heat pumps, they'll talk to us about a biomass boiler. They'll come and see it. Not all of them, some of them are not interested, but a lot of them are kind of keen and interested and we can have quite geeky conversations with them about it. So I think it is, for us, it's a real sign of quality. It's a point of difference. It's a sign of authenticity. We always trying to push the fact that we're more than just a holiday home. It's kind of an experience staying with us because we facilitate a lot of other things beyond just places to stay. So we'll talk to them digital nature walks or we encourage our food go there. So I produce. I've got a walking guide that everybody gets when they first arrive, which is five walks they can do directly from our barns. I'm trying to introduce them to local foods. So it's all about adding value to their stay. So I know that it's kind of meeting one of my needs, which is to introduce people and support local food and meet people locally that are delivering great produce to people. But also I know it's adding value to my guests, so I think it works really well. Do people book with me specifically for our environmental credentials? Increasingly, I'd say yes. Not many, but sometimes I get reviews that say, I've been looking for a place like this for years. Finally I found one. I wish all hosted this too. So we do. And then I have people repeating, booking that say, we just love everything you do and it's just. And we use that loo roll to. Or we tell us more about your cleaning products. So I think increasingly it's an opportunity to have a conversation with people, but without trying to force it down their necks. I think that's. It's a delicate balance and you don't. I think we'd probably get it right now, but, you know, it's been. It's been a bit of a journey, I guess.

Yeah, I think it's definitely one of those things where. And there'll be people listening to this, where they go, oh, sustainability. You know, like, it's. I just want to make some money on this sort of, you know, know, on this venture. But ultimately, that line that you said from that guest, which said, hey, I've been looking for this for ages. I wish all hosts done this. It's going to be more and more. This is, this is, this is growing because one, it needs to and to. Ultimately, it is something which lets you. Especially the authenticity of it is, is a way to stand out. And this is the thing where sometimes I've seen examples where people would say, hey, I'm eco friendly, I've bought recyclable toiletries or something very, very basic. What you're talking about there is you've actually considered the entire concept of what will make this sustainable. And it's even in the brand, the name, you know, the actual name, and looked at it from a longevity point of view as to what the goal is, which is amazing. And I really respect that. I think the, the rise that we're seeing, especially from the OTAs, I mean, if you go on booking.com Airbnb the number of options that they're starting to add for the sustainability, the more of those that you can, you know, authentically tick and actually say, hey, we're doing this. This is who we are, the more that makes you stand apart from the other people who, who aren't necessarily doing that. So, yeah, you mentioned some of the features and the things that you can do. Can you talk us through some of those features and why you've kind of put those in for the sustainability factor?

Yeah, I mean, I think first thing worth saying is that if you're. So for all three of our units or three of our barns, we've converted them, so we've taken an existing building and changed it dramatically. So I think when you're looking at. So first thing when you look thinking about sustainability is how you heat and how you power places. That's by far the biggest impact in terms of climate change. And if you're able to design a way of doing that which isn't focused around fossil fuels and from the word go, then that's much easier than taking an existing building and converting it. So I think it's just worth saying that we were in a sort of lucky position somewhat because we could start from scratch. So we were able to well, where we are in Norfolk, there's no gas, so it's either heating oil or you find an alternative. So oil. We can't be an eco barn and be and run on oil. That was out of the question. So the first thing we did was looked at how we could heat the first two conversions and our house at the same time. And our house is an existing house, which is quite leaky. So we went for a bio nice boiler which is wood pellet boiler. And then with a second bar, the third bar we did. We've used a air source heat pump, so that's electricity and they are insanely good. And use so little power, it's unbelievable. So that was the import. So heating is biomass boiler and a heat pump. And then we've also included some pv, so some photovoltaics. So we've got a huge roof with 1714 kilowatt hour photovoltaics, which basically in the summer, so from about April to October now power the entire operation. We've also got some batteries. So what we do is any of the. If we are creating too much energy during the day, we basically use the batteries to store the energy that we can use in the evenings. So it kind of is a very clever system. So they are the sort of things that we've invested our money in. Now, the PV, to give you an example, we spent about £25,000 on that. And the payback period we think for that is about six years so on. I actually think from that perspective it makes a huge amount of business sense. If you've got a big roof and it faces west or south, then it's definitely worth looking at because you will be able to manage those tricky utility costs. And also it's sort of from a tax perspective, it's a useful thing to do as well. So there are lots of reasons why it's worth doing that. So energy was the first thing we looked at. We looked also at plastic. So single use, plastic use. So we've tried to pretty much eradicate that from, from our whole system. So we don't really buy anything which is using single use plastic. All this, all the food that we leave for our guests is all homemade or we seek it from local suppliers. Not without any use of plastic, no plastic, any of our cleaning fluids. We refill everything. So that's been eradicated pretty much. Then third area is biodiversity. So we've got a bit of land which we now manage for wildlife and we've planted a heap, I think we've planted 1800 sapling trees since we've been here, got a lovely hedge all the way around, which is beautiful. So they're the kind of three areas that we've done the most work on. But there's always more work to do. You know, we could do more, I'm sure.

I love what you've said there, just on the basic biodiversity, especially because we actually, as part of the hospitality business, we do plant a tree and these kind of systems where you pay money and you choose where those trees are being planted. The trouble is that I can't go and see what's being planted. I can't. You know, there's always that moment of, is this going to the place you think is? Whereas with yourself, you know, the trees you've planted, you know, you know, this, this there, you can see them, you know, you can, you can touch them, you know, and I think that's a really important factor that you're adding to the local biodiversity. Instead of often, unfortunately, with, with hospitality and building projects and things like often, it takes away, doesn't it?

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Yeah, and I think, I think it's really worth challenging that in many respects because you can do a lot in a small area, you can do an awful lot for biodiversity. Think about countries like Singapore, you know, where they've got these amazing green roofs and stuff. There's much, there's a lot you can do. I think it's just about challenging yourself in that design stage, you know, kind of carbon offsetting idea, which is when you, you realize you can't do anything about your carbon in your business, but you can try and buy, buy it back somewhere else is definitely not ideal. It's okay to do that, but it doesn't, it doesn't solve the problem. And like you say, you can't really verify that those trees are actually, you know, growing, whereas we can see ours. Neil has to go and cut them back every couple of years, etc.

So it's part of the pleasure. You get to see the nature and, you know, using it as well, which is probably the bigger reward than anything else, isn't it? So.

Yeah, I think so, yeah.

When it comes.

We also have an allotment, I should mention our allotments. We've got an allotment use for our guests. Can help themselves to fruit and veg, which is quite nice. Yeah. So they can go in and pick asparagus or go beetroot. I mean, they don't know what to do. And then all of them, I like, I say I bake bread for our guests. I have actually had a repeat booking just because they like my bread so much. So that. That was a wow moment.

I say side business, side business, you know, upsell, stuff like that.

I'm not becoming a baker. And then we compost all of our food waste as well. So that's a new thing we've just brought in this year. So all the food waste, because we had a lot of people coming from London that are used to curbside food waste collections. We don't have that in Norfolk, as I'm sure you know, but we've. We've created our own. So trying to close the loop as much as possible so the waste is used on site as much as we can do that. So we're trying to challenge ourselves the whole time.

Overall, it. It sounds like an amazing business from a business point of view of. Actually, you've looked at this going, is this worth the cost at the start? And like you say, it's paid off anyway. It's better for the environment, it's better for your pocket and it's great for your guests as a point of difference, you know, that they come and see that. Was there any worries at the start going well, should we cut corners to make sure we are, you know, just. Just in terms of affordability or was the plan that, hey, we are going to stick to this line because this is who we are. What was the kind of mindset around that?

Well, I think. I mean, I think the mindset was always, we'll do as much as we possibly can afford to do, you know, so we' had to phase some of this. So the p. This. The photovoltaics only came online last year. We had some on our house. So we've just tried to reinvest in a kind of sustainable way the whole way through. But architects will always tell you, you know, spend as much as possible. On the buildings. But we tried to be really sensible. And in fact, in our last. On our last development, the grain barn, we deliberately, it was the sort of building that we could have, you know, glazed the global gable end and we could have gone really high end with architecture. But everything that was being suggested to us would have made the build much more expensive and much less energy efficient. So we just kept it really simple to try and demonstrate that you can. You can do those kind of great builds without, you know, compromising completely on the environmental features as well as the kind of. And spending a fortune, you know, so it's getting that delicate balance. So we've tried to be practical, I think, mainly because we wanted to prove that it's something that people can do. You know, you don't need a million pounds to do all of this, you know, you can do it slowly, carefully, if you've got, you know, if you've got some capital. I do often say to people, if I was trying to set this business up now, I don't think we could do it now. I think we were really lucky that we were able to find somewhere in Norfolk that we could afford. And I was able. And I got that grant from Leader Funding. Without that, I don't think we would have been able to set up. And I think that's a real shame for newcomers into the business. I don't know how people would. Typically capital costs in the uk, I mean, obviously different countries differ, but I think that would be really difficult for younger people to start up now, which I think is worrying. Right, yeah.

But what you're saying there, though, about just finding bits that you can do, whether it's in your own home or in your holiday. I mean, most people listening to this have got probably at least one door or a couple of doors that they can go and have an effect on. And the little patches of land, you know, say there's this switch into green energy. This is something that was saying that every home you can have supplied by calling your supplier just to switch to green energy. And yeah, all of these things make a difference to the, you know, to the carbon footprint. At the end of the day, every little change is a nudge in the right direction. It's just we need.

Yes. And actually switching to a renewable tariff these days doesn't necessarily even cost anymore. I mean, we've been renewable since. Since we started out. But, yeah, no, that's a really good piece of advice. Yeah. Really easy to do.

So, I mean, I. I can picture, obviously, I really get the business and, and really understand the sustainability element. Obviously. I know the area where you're talking about is great walks, you're pet friendly as well and such amazing sort of combination. You've got of an awesome area, the amenities, the sustainability, all of that stuff. What do you do in terms of marketing, where do your guests come from and how do they tend to book?

So I have always had a very, very strong book direct model and think it suits me and my desire to kind of build relationships with guests. So I am on Airbnb but I'm not on booking.com. i'd say about 15% of my bookings come via a third party notia. The rest are all direct. So we. I have our own website I'm not in, you know, which is great. And have had from the word go. And then I advertise with people like specialists, special places to stay because I think their values and ours are very much aligned. They're looking for those guests always want authentic, different experiences and I think that we give them that in barrel load somewhere called Cool Stays. And I also have a Facebook and Instagram account. But I mean, I think this for me has always been the rub, the hard bit. Because if you're doing that, you know, booking direct model with. With clients, you have to kind of. It feels to me like you have to be across all these different bases and that's really hard. And it's just knowing how much to put in where constantly feeling like you've got to learn a new, you know, a new, oh God, I've got to do Pinterest now. I was doing Instagram last week. Should I be doing Twitter? I mean, it is just so overwhelming and there is no end to it. But I've seen things shift hugely since I started out. So 10 years ago we advertised with something called Owners Direct. You probably don't know who they were, but I think they've become one of the big OTAs. And it was just literally a 200 quid. Here's your app. And they just used to give us so many clients and then one day they just stopped and it was terrible. So, you know, I long wish they were still in operation, but they'd gone to a commission now like everyone else. So. Yeah, but I think the social media, the Facebook and the Instagram stuff is really important, just social proof. I have a lot of people that will find me on sore days, check me out on Instagram and then they book, you know, So I think it is really important. But it's getting that understanding where to Put your investment and knowing what success looks like is really difficult, particularly if you're working on your own. It's quite isolating. I find it quite isolating. I don't like. I'm a bit of a born collaborator, so I don't like doing that bit by myself. So I have found Boostly and the various kind of WhatsApp groups I'm in and other groups I'm in just really helpful from that perspective because if not, I think you can just feel a little bit like you're bashing against 100.

I know that is why Mark Simpson started the community in the first place is owning hospitality business can be lonely. There's nobody to turn to, like you say. And that's why we've created things like the hospitality community on Facebook, which is a free group where people can come and join. We've got the Boostly Academy where people can come and be in a sort of closer knit group and where there's more training and it's paid service on that. But when it comes down to the, what you're describing there of knowing where to put the attention into the marketing, this is. It reminds me of we, we had Paul Anderson for doing a mastermind last night on the Boostly Academy and he was, he would. Something sticks with me, which is, you know, you don't need to be. You've got to make it work for you. So ultimately, if you don't like TikTok, don't be on TikTok. Focus on the one that you like and the one you're most comfortable with because at the end of the day, you're going to have much more success if you're posting and learning about, you know, something you like. So for me, I spend more time on Facebook than Instagram and it doesn't mean I've got to go and learn lots about Instagram as long as Facebook works for me for my marketing, which it does. And again with there's, there's lots of Facebook groups, sustainability Facebook groups, travel groups, cool places to study stuff. It, it just depends, doesn't it? And yeah, and it's having, having the.

Confidence, I think just like, like Paul and you say just to go, right, I just need to do that for that. I mean, recently what I started doing is just divided my week up and just said, right, this is the minimum stuff I have to do. The essential stuff for the week is this. And once I've done that essential stuff, the rest of the week is time for me to do other stuff or to learn new Skills, because if not, you are just doing it 24 7, particularly because we live on site and it's just, you know, there is no limit. So I think that I'm reminding myself of this conversation I've had with myself. I was talking to you. I've got to go back to that.

Because it did really work 100%. And I think for. Especially, I mean, if you do like Instagram, especially for the unique stays, this is where sometimes I'm talking to people who have got flat in the middle of urban environment where they're saying, will Instagram work? And I go, well, you know, it's not a bad thing to try. But ultimately, usually when people are looking at Instagram, they're looking at experiences going, oh, that looks cool. Oh, look at this. This is. Check this out. You know, that's the kind of reaction that they're looking for. Whereas if we was to say with your business, if you were marketing very corporately on a slight LinkedIn and, you know, it might not attract quite the same vibe, you know, it could. Both could still work, but there's more natural sort marketing.

Yeah, yeah. I mean, I had one. My best ever marketing experience was when I was approached by the local authority to put up a Guardian journalist who was a specialist in writing, like walking holidays. We hosted her, she did her piece and I Woke up to five bookings and I think I had 30 bookings directly from that piece in a day. So I would buy because I. Because I think kind of Guardian readers are our avatar. Right. So. So, you know, I would bite my hand off to get another article in the Guardian, but haven't managed to do it yet. But things like that, when you get it right and you. You get the right people coming and you have a great conversation with them, then it's all really. And they like your bread and they like your homemade apple juice and if.

They'Re picking the veg of the. Of the patch and stuff like that, you know, you found the right avatar.

Yeah. Their kids are like feeding the chickens. They're just like, yeah, this is what it's all about.

I mean, it's very incredible to see the business you created. Is there a particular kind of wow moment over the last eight years that you could go, do you know what? I really thought that was one of the stages which will stick with me, where I think, hey, we've kind of achieved this.

I think it comes back down to those. Just those lovely little interactions you get with people, where you get people. I mean, I remember once I had Some German guests who said, you know, it's so nice you were so brave to set this up. You know, we love it so much. Nobody, you know, we wouldn't have ever done this. We wish we'd done this too. And it's those sorts of conversations where you go, oh, they're having a really great time and they really get it and it just feels really nice. It's kind of worth it. So I think that. And then the occasional day where we, my husband and I, get to sit down in the summer when you've got these beautiful English nights in June, you know, and it's like, it's, it's 11 o' clock and it's just getting dark and you get to sit outside and you can sort of see the wildlife. Maybe an owl go, you know, flies over and you've got a little gin tyke in your hand. That's, that's the wild moment for me, I think.

Do you know, it's one of the best answers we've had to that question because often people are talking about big bookends or whatever, but actually those are the real moments in life where you go, this is, this is great. And no, it sounds fabulous.

Yeah, I'm glad you said, and I think, you know, you said to me earlier on, you know, sometimes we ask you about, you know, what's your mantra, what's your quote? And I think for me it's just reminding myself that we don't need to behave like a corporate, we don't need to be an ass, basically. We can be, we can afford to be kind, we can be, afford to be understanding. And, you know, and the times that I've not been as you know, that I've forced myself to be a bit more hard nosed about things generally, I've regretted it. So I think it's that, you know, be nice, be kind. They've come to you because they want something, a different experience, so give it to them. And I think that's kind of our mantra really. Sometimes I think that might sound a bit naive, but it works for us and my family. So I guess it's kind of okay, right?

This is the great thing about hospitality. Your business can be an extension of your values and of us really, that we build what we want to see in the world as entrepreneurs, don't we? And it sounds, I can hear the passion in your voice, Emma. And so a couple of questions before we share the details because I'm even, I'm excited. I know where you are and even I'm Excited to hear where, you know, where I can come and book and come and see Dave before we share that, what, what is your thoughts on the future of the industry and where sustainability is going to go? Is there any kind of thoughts you've got of the. Any opportunities coming?

Well, I think, you know, I've recently just been away to. I went to. Took the kids away to Sri Lanka, which isn't very sustainable and I felt very guilty by those air miles. It's the first time we've ever done anything like that and we had a great time. But you could really hard to book anything in Sri Lanka without going via booking.com, it wasn't 20 years ago, but now it's really, really difficult. So I think those OTAs have really got, you know, they have got. They want to get their hands on everything, don't they? So that I think is a real concern. But also, whilst I was in Sri Lanka, I realized how important tourism is, you know, because those communities that have been so decimated by Covid really, really need travellers back spending money in their community, helping them build their own economy. So we as a travel industry have a huge challenge because the world is not going in a good direction in terms of its climate and it's going to make traveling harder. So I think all I can say is that we absolutely need to do absolutely everything we can ourselves in our buildings and in our places to enable us to have a life where we can't afford to travel, because I'm not sure we'll be able to unless something shifts, unless we can really get this under control. So I think all of this is really important and I think the technologies are hugely improving. The one thing I was going to say is that you really need. The technologies are quite difficult to purchase in terms of. I mean, I am not the purchaser of them, my husband is. But he had to get into so much detail and had to really understand what he was buying and speak to people on Facebook groups and learn everything he could to make the right decision. So I think it's really important. If you're investing in any new technologies, you really need to get into the detail. So that's really important. But I think there are opportunities people can. You can do stuff and I think we just need to invest in this area. I think it's essential, really.

It's a good point about the kind of having the appetite to get, because when we talk about biomass boilers and solar panels, I just think there must be one type. But of course there's so many different types, there's so many different options and having less, having too much choice or any confusion that stops you from purchasing. So I can see that by seeing successful places like yours, you go, and you know, it is possible to do that, to, to get through, to cut through all of the noise, all of the confusion.

Yeah.

Ultimately, once you've made a decision, like you said, within six years, you've made your money back. More importantly, you're not having to have those high bills ongoing. You're in control of your own energy.

Yeah, yeah.

In the world today, you've got ways to. To create energy, which is. Is amazing.

So, yeah, and I think, I think it's. I. I think if you are in thinking about investing anything, you know, go see some other projects, go talk to people that have them installed, get into the detail, because they're just like any industry, there are people that are very happy to take your money and promise you everything and you won't necessarily. And, you know, in the hospitality industry, we do need systems that work, you know, and they are a bit more complicated than what you probably got at the moment. So you really need to get to the detail. So go see people, get references, join Facebook groups, find out the detail, you.

Know, look at the app, go and stay with us. So the last question, or last couple of questions is there's a lot of the sustainability kind of people out there. We talked about Bob earlier on Bob Garner, and there's. There's certain accreditations and things like that. Any thoughts or any kind of sharing on what they're doing in the industry and along those side of things?

Yeah, I mean, I think it's interesting. I don't know a great deal about all of them. I have looked at some of the accreditations before. I think if you've got a biggish business, so you've got quite a lot of staff and you've got like 10, 15 units, and so you've got a big kind of management system. Then I think some of those management systems, like the Green Tourism Awards, would be very useful because they give you a system by which you can manage your environmental impact. For us, I'd never felt it's needed to someone else to tell me we're doing a good job or not. Although we are actually in the English Tourism Awards, we've got into a regional final for that, so that's exciting. So I do like the kind of awards things, but I don't feel like we need the accreditation. But I think if I owned Richardson's Boats for example, down the road. Absolutely. They should be doing something like that. So I think. And I think those cases Bob Gardner's looking at are really useful and kind of very international, which I think are great. So I think there is much more opportunity for hosts to talk about this together than there is at the moment. But I think. So, if you've got a big operation. Yeah. And certainly look at those sorts of things, if you're small, you probably just pick a phone call, you know, pick the phone call up to me and we can have a chat about it. You don't necessarily need to go down that route because it's another cost. Right. They're going to charge you to join those schemes and I'm not sure people really use them to decide where they're going to stay. I don't know if people really. The evidence is not huge that they do.

I love, you know, checking what people are thinking of that. And you remind me of a quote which they say, wisdom is obvious. If you're doing a good job. It's obvious anyway, isn't it? So, like you say, it is, you know, the moment. I didn't know before we've had this chat, all those awesome things you're doing, but even in the name and the brand and the fact that I can see you're doing good in general, that I can. I feel better about going. Do you know what if I'm going to go and stay in a barn in Norfolk? Well, you know, I'm going to check out your place, so. And hopefully there's many other people listening to this doing the same. So let's throw the mic open. How can we find out more? How can we come and book a stay?

Oh, well, we have our own website. If you just Google Mill Farm Ecobalms, you'll find us. But we're mill farm ecobarms.co.uk you can get in contact with me there. I have just put a WhatsApp widget on my phone best. So I'm on my website. Best thing I've done in years. Because now anybody wants to get a hold of me can just WhatsApp me. And it's me. It's not a bot. You get free to me, always me, never anybody else but me. And then you can have a chat and get to know me that way. Or you can follow us on Instagram. We're in the funny Cobalt on Instagram or on Facebook. I don't do Twitter, I'm afraid. I don't do Pinterest. I'm Probably I'm on LinkedIn, but only as myself. So, yeah, there, you're one. I'm quite easy to find, really.

No, that's cool. That's cool. And we'll share those in the show notes. So however you're consuming this media, it'll be somewhere around where you're watching or listening to it as well. So normally at this stage we'd ask the. The mantra question, but I know we've covered that. So instead I'm going to chuck out a fun question for you, Emma. What. What would be if. If you could have any superpower, what would it be and why?

Oh, my goodness. If I could have a superpower. So this is about me having power rather than me changing the world, isn't it? God, that's impossible. I have no idea. What do I see? Well, I'd like to. I'd like to be able to just, you know, go around the world, Just go to the. Go under my stairs like I did. This is what we used to think about when I was a child. Go under my stairs and think of somewhere and then just be able to pop out, just be there.

That'd be a nice teleportation in a way. That's.

Yes, exactly.

I like it. Good answer. And good, good thinking on your feet as well, because on you, Emma, this has been really fun. I know there's going to be lots of people, including me, who will go and check out your website. It's really enjoyable to talk to people who are passionate about their business, passionate about the environment and ultimately building a product which brings the two together and allows people to come and see, come and experience it, and to take that kind of positive message home without, you know, people just say, hey, you should do this. You should do this. It's actually going away, experiencing it, seeing what it's like, creating great memories. And like you say, those moments where you've got gin and tonic at 11 o' clock because you're seeing nature around you. That's what it's all about. And that's what I'm going to take away from this podcast. So thank you so much. Anyone shares or anything we missed along the way?

No, I don't think so. It's been lovely talking to you. You've made me sound much more professional than I actually feel, I have to say. So thanks for that and I guess I would just like to say thanks to the whole Beastly crew, because over the years you have definitely shined a bit of light into some darker darkness. So thanks for that. I really appreciate the community.

Thank you so much. What a nice way to end. And thanks again for your time.

Pleasure.

That's it from us. We'll see you on the next podcast. Bye for now.