Just a short stroll from Norfolk’s favourite sandy shore,
Holkham Bay, The Victoria Inn is a 20-key hotel on Holkham Estate
whose restaurant’s meat offering solely comprises game from the
estate, served alongside locally sourced organic fruit and veg. The
star of the sustainable show, though, is the hotel’s all-singing,
all-dancing biomass boiler, which heats the entire property and its
water using wood from the grounds.

The Peter Pan of the hospitality industry, Treehouse was founded
on the principle that a hotel should inspire as much childish
excitement and adventure as a treehouse. So, rather than beat about
the bush, they went ahead and made one. And right in the middle of
London, no less. Built using reclaimed wood and filled with
upcycled furnishings, the hotel also uses organic cottons, locally
produced toiletries and runs eco-conscious composting and recycling
programmes.

This clifftop hotel won a glittering line-up of sustainability
awards for its conscious approach to construction when it opened in
2009. Thanks to its do-no-harm ethos, over 120 small animals,
including lizards and slow worms, were rehoused when the stone
walls from the hotel that formerly occupied this spot were
carefully deconstructed. Once the old building had been completely
dismantled, its insulation materials were sent to a monkey
sanctuary and replaced with naturally insulating sea thrift plants,
in order to encourage ecological diversity.

With a name that does what it says on the tin, this former Dutch detention centre – a barge-like floating platform – was reincarnated as a hotel by Marten Dresen, a social entrepreneur with a singular mission to do good. Towed across the North Sea to its current home at Royal Victoria Dock, Good Hotel was created from the bottom up, with the planet and its people in mind. Think upcycled furniture and locally sourced food, yes, but also a hospitality training programme for the long-term unemployed (where every student has the chance of full-time work at the Good Hotel once graduated) and a foundation in Guatemala providing underprivileged children with an education through the excess profits from hotel stays. This is sustainable staycationing, firmly kicked up a gear.

This 19th-century Victorian country pile might not initially strike you as one of the UK’s most eco-forward stays, but it is, in fact, the UK’s first fully vegan hotel. The 11-room boutique lodge was founded by the McLaren-Stewart family as an extension of their own vegan lifestyle, with the aim of debunking the misconception that foregoing animal products means sacrificing style. The furnishings and staff uniforms are all cruelty-free, while the inventive menu is entirely plant- based (think watermelon sashimi and hay-infused panna cotta). Italian head chef Luca Sordi plans meals meticulously to avoid waste, with an emphasis on provenance and seasonal Scottish ingredients from the wilderness, the hotel’s own vegetable garden and local suppliers.
The individually designed guest rooms feature beds dressed with organic linen and silk and down-free pillows and duvets, while bathrooms are stocked with ethically sourced toiletries. Even the electricity is vegan-certified, courtesy of Ecotricity (the only energy company in the country with such a label).