Little Marshfoot.biz

An Environmentally Friendly Building

Little Marshfoot is an eco-building located in the gardens of a former farmhouse overlooking the Pevensey Levels, adjacent to the Market Town of Hailsham in East Sussex.

Purpose built, it is designed to a very high standard of comfort and convenience.

It has achieved a Gold Award from the prestigious Green Tourism Business Scheme

It is graded Four Star accommodation by the Visit Britain Quality Assessment Scheme

Environmental principles underpinned the concept from the start, so that the design is one 'typical' of environmental architecture:

• It is constructed of wood sourced from certified sustainable woodland within the UK
• It faces south-east in order to capture morning light and warmth
• The expansive double glazing captures and retains 'passive solar heat'
• Natural ventilation is provided by wide opening doors and windows
• The building is thickly insulated with a product called Warmcell, which is made up of treated, recycled telephone directories and newspapers.
• It stands on small 'stilts' to enable the circulation of air, and prevent cold striking up from the ground in the winter.
• The stilts stand on individual concrete piles, rather than the raft of concrete that most buildings are constructed upon. This has reduced the amount of concrete used, and therefore less damage to the environment is caused in the mining and transport of materials.
• The wooden building has a good 'cradle to grave' lifecycle.

The design means that minimal energy is required to heat the building, although it was decided to install central heating to deal with the winter chills. We use a Combi Boiler which only heats up the water that is needed, when it is needed.

The building of the premises resulted in the 'recovery' of a waste area of the garden.

The gardens are planted with native plants, and are designed to attract a range of birds and wild mammals. We are currently considering how to respond to the challenges of climate change; rainfall is increasingly erratic and sparse, a hosepipe ban, implemented in July 2005, lasted until the Spring of 2007 - almost two years.

Organic principles underpin gardening methods wherever possible.

In 2006 we addressed issues of drought and global warming by planting some areas with cultivars which require minimal water - only to be faced with the wet spring and summer of 2007!

The colour 'theme' of the building is natural pine, white walls and blue accessories which include bedding, towels, crockery and cutlery. The objective is to achieve a peaceful and uncluttered ambience.

We are always delighted to discuss the detail of our plans with anyone who is interested, as one objective of the building is to promote an interest in the environment in everyday life and to show that such buildings can be cheap and efficient to run.

'Let your business be our business'