Our Environment

Wotton House is proud to hold Green Key certification, a prestigious mark of excellence in environmental responsibility and sustainable operations within the Tourism sector. As part of the Hospitality and Tourism sector, we acknowledge the potential for negative environmental impacts. However, following the example set by our former owner, Sir Jon Evelyn, we have committed ourselves to protecting the planet, promoting responsible tourism, and preserving the beauty of our surroundings while minimising our impact on local communities. For more details on our Environmental Policy, click here.

 

Caring for the environment and people is at the heart of our core values, and we’d love for you to join us on this journey. We believe it’s our responsibility to raise awareness about sustainable tourism and show others how to enjoy their stay while making more eco-friendly choices. This year, we’ve been working hard to share our knowledge, raise awareness, and implement best practices to be as green as possible. These changes include:

 

Working closer with local suppliers

Supporting local businesses helps the community thrive, create jobs, and reduce your carbon footprint. During your visit to Wotton House, you’ll find local wines, gins, and food items featured on our menus. We also collaborate with the nearby vineyards and gin distilleries to offer tours and special packages for guests. Additionally, we invite smaller local businesses to participate in our annual events, allowing them to showcase and sell their products. This list continues to grow as we connect with more suppliers and expand our hotel ventures.

Our commitment extends beyond local suppliers to supporting the community as well. We’ve hosted annual events that invite locals to join the fun, and the Wotton team has enjoyed organising clean-up days to pick up litter along the walkways and roads surrounding the hotel. We’re also excited to announce our collaboration with the Dorking Food Bank to raise funds, awareness, and donations for those in need.

 

Wotton Bees and Rewilding

We’ve introduced the Wotton bees to our gardens—and they are truly thriving! We recognise the vital role bees play in the environment by pollinating plants, which in turn supports other animals and ecosystems. In addition to our bees, we’ve launched a rewilding project on our Western Lawn to enhance biodiversity across the Wotton Estate. You can even taste the results for yourself! We serve our delicious Wotton honey at breakfast and offer jars for sale, along with keepsake wax honey candles at reception.

 

Reducing waste and paper usage

As a large hotel, we’ve always made a point to recycle paper. However, this year we’ve reduced our paper usage by over 50% by offering QR code welcome packs and reusable laminated maps at reception instead of single use printed letters. We also encourage guests to receive their invoices via email after their stay rather than printing them. Cutting down on paper helps the environment by reducing transportation needs, minimizing landfill waste, and lowering carbon emissions and pollution. In addition, we’re committed to growing awareness about waste reduction, educating our Wotton team on the importance of recycling, reusing, and reducing waste.

 

These are just a few of the new and improved practices we’ve implemented at the hotel. Looking ahead to 2025, we have some exciting plans, including:

  • Continuing to evolve our menus and explore alternative local suppliers to spark creativity.
  • Enhancing our Wotton team’s green thumbs by launching a hotel gardening club, where everyone gets involved with planting and gardening.
  • Raising further awareness about environmental sustainability through short videos from our team, where they’ll share insights on our beautiful grounds and how we’ve reduced environmental waste.

 

To learn more about Green Key and their impactful methods for improving the environment, click here. If you have any ideas or would like to support our efforts further, please feel free to reach out to us at [email protected].