Gold Award for Green Tourism
The eco-friendly Romney Marsh Visitor Centre and nature reserve has achieved a Gold Award in the Green Tourism Business Scheme
– a first for a Kent-based visitor attraction.
Romney Marsh Visitor Manager, Steve Humphreys, and regular volunteer, Stephanie Leslie, with the Green Tourism Award certificate and plaque © Ray Lewis
Managed by Kent Wildlife Trust on behalf of Shepway District Council, the Centre is built entirely out of recycled and low-impact materials such as straw-bale walls and a ‘living’ sedum covered roof.
Following an accreditation grading site visit – the assessor’s audit report concluded: “Very environmentally focussed organisation. An excellent example of high level sustainable practices in action.”
Among the features that were praised in the report were:
• Excellent levels of insulation
• Heating by wood burning stove with locally sourced fuel
• Waterless urinals and small type cisterns
• All waste separated and recycled
• Good composting systems
• Strong ethical purchasing policy in place
• Centre highly accessible by public transport
• Excellent habitat and wildlife management on site
Manager, Steve Humphreys, said: “This prestigious award heralds the start of an exciting new era for the Centre and the recent opening of the Romney Warren Halt served by the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway has greatly added to our green tourism credentials.”
Kent Wildlife Trust’s Chief Executive, John Bennett, added: “The Romney Warren nature reserve is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and ecologically important for its unspoilt dune grassland and wildlife-rich ponds noted for their many rare invertebrates such as the great crested newt and medical leech.”
The Visitor Centre is on the A259 between New Romney and Dymchurch and is open from 10am - 4.30pm daily. Admission is free.
Events are held throughout the summer. For details call 01797 369487 or go to www.kentwildlifetrust.org.uk
- News
- Explorers nest in the cliffs of Reculver
- Tree Pipit returns to Hothfield Heathlands
- The lovely ladies of Larkey!
- New look nature reserve - a treat for bird watchers
- Bring Wildlife Back to Your Garden
- 'Operation spring clean' to help wildlife at Hothfield reserve
- A day out with the lambs
- Art exhibition raises £2,000 for wildlife conservation
- Bough Beech Boost
- New nature reserve gets funding boost
- Kent's going wild about gardens!
- New lease of life for Ashford Warren Nature Reserve
- Go wild in the Weald
- Disturbed birds to be studied
- Fireman run for thier wildlife!
- Give Seas a Chance!
- Don't neglect our feathered friends
- The Lean, Green, Blean Machine
- Bough Beech theft
- Sam's a shooting star!
- Great Scots roam Kent marshes
- Endangered dormice get a helping hand
- Strong Kent support for the human 'wave'
- Kent photographers show a natural flair
- Secrets of the sea emerge as new marine legislation is celebrated
- New nature reserve opens in Medway
- Pink is the new green
- Fresh Start for Romney Residents
- Puffin gets them Twitchin'!
- Volunteers needed for community organic garden project
- Ancient breed helps restore rare grassland
- Trust awarded £300,000 grant towards £½ million project for Kent ‘wilderness’
- Born to be Wild!
- ‘White Admirals’ make a comeback to Kent woodland
- Breeding success for rare duck on Swale Reserves
- Signs of the Times for New Look Nature Reserve
- Nationally Scarce Orchid Makes Record Appearance in Kent
- Gold Award for Green Tourism
