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With more people taking staycations than ever before, there is a super exciting opportunity for a big push towards more eco friendly holidays. If you are a parent reading this make sure you check out our website dedicated to family travel. Of course Globe Mad tips are handy for everyone, but since starting a family we realised travel with a family is a weeee but different, so all our niched down family staycations tips and inspiration are over there!
Staycations are inherently a little more eco friendly than the average holiday abroad as you are ofcourse removing the flight. HOWEVER, just because you remove the flight does not automatically make your holiday eco friendly and in some cases depending on your travel style and the length of trip, holidays abroad could actually still be more eco friendly, but we’ll dive into that further down. If you take time to get to grips with what truly makes a Sustainable staycations you will find your holidays a win win. So let’s focus on 12 things helping you make your UK staycation for this year more Eco friendly.
12 things to make your UK Staycation more Eco friendly
1. Finding Eco Friendly places to stay
Finding Eco friendly place to stay for your UK staycation is arguably the number one step to making your holiday and ecoholiday. If you are choosing a staycation with the motivation to be Eco Friendly and don’t do your research you could find yourself supporting horribly un-environmentally friendly hotels and in some cases even unethical ones. Sadly many hotels have horrific carbon footprints and don’t look after their staff.
Thankfully there are more Hotels in the UK than ever before doing what they can to be more environmentally conscientious.
The two best ways to find Eco Friendly places to stay in the UK are to either stay in locally run lodges and cottages or discover the joys of glamping! UK glamping is some of the best in the world, if you love the idea of connecting with nature through staying in some of the world’s most beautiful yurts, eco pods and glamping tents then will love the 12 Unique Luxury UK Glamping Places we have picked out for you! These will also give you a great idea of what to look for when finding Eco Friendly glamping wins for your next Uk staycation!
2. Knowing Your Countryside Code
Sadly less and less people even know what the countryside code is! Even more concerningly, the increase in UK staycations has led to places of natural beauty being damaged. The most simple things to remember are to leave a place as you find it. Of course don’t drop litter; since you’re the kind of awesome humans taking time to read this, I’d love to go a step further and ask you to consider helping by setting off with a rubbish bag and collect rubbish others may have left in an effort to really preserve our beautiful countryside.
Leaving things as you find them include, if a gate is open OR closed the new rule is to leave it as you found it. If you are planning to do a lot hiking on your UK holiday, AWESOME, and maybe take two minutes to quickly read this post on everything you need to hike responsibly in the UK. (COMING SOON)
3. Buy Local Food
Love a good local pie! Tasty and eco friendly! The nice thing about a holiday is it’s a time to splash out a bit more. If in all honesty you struggle to always buy locally at home, your UK staycation is the perfect time to buy locally. All across the UK you will find farms, village shops and farmers markets all selling local produce. Buying here of course helps local economy, has a low carbon footprint, is healthy and is often the tastiest food you can get anyway!
4. Support Local Business
Naturally this is similar to buying local food, but extending it to things such as buying your souvenirs and booking experience with small local businesses. Again it is win win as often you get the mostly beautiful handcrafted gifts and souvenirs that you actually want to keep. Also, when you book local excursions, anything from a tour of a local farm to paddle boarding lessons to a llama hike, you have a great experience and help support a family business in the area you have picked for your UK staycation.
5. Don’t Buy into Buying Holiday Clothes
I totally get wanting to have something new to wear when you go away, I really do! You may even actually need some new clothes as you have genuinely worn out your shorts, sat on your sunglasses and lost a sandal from last summer.
What I would encourage you to do though is take a moment to question the intense marketing of needing a brand new wardrobe for a holiday. Often these are one off fashion pieces, practically disposable clothing that you know you wont wear again after your holiday. It is always better to buy ethically made quality clothing that lasts, rather than flurries of disposable clothing farthing modern slavery. – A bit heavy I know, but we shouldn’t avoid saying these things just because they’re uncomfortable.
6. Eco Friendly Packing Principles
Once you get the hang of Eco friendly packing it is simple, satisfying, meets all your needs and is of course more environmentally friendly.
The great thing about packing for a UK staycation is that you are much more familiar with the weather, this definitely helps with not over packing. The basics of Eco Friendly Packing Principles come down to being minimal and mindful. Only pack what you need and pack in a way that reduced your waste whilst on holiday. Simple examples for the latter would be taking reusable water bottles and your own environmentally friendly toiletries. If you would like to learn more about doing this, check back in as we have a blog coming out on it very soon. (COMING SOON)
7. Minimising Travel
Great that you have cut out the flight, but if you then chose to drive to a new place every other night by yourself in un-environmentally friendly vehicle you can soon whack that carbon footprint back up. Equally if you fancy a yurt stay and live in the south of England there are loads of amazing options, you don’t need to pick one in the Scotish HIghlands. But if you happen to live in Scotland, definitely check out these epic and unique glamping spots we found in the highlands.
If you can fill your car then driving is a good option, but if there is just one or two of you, looking into planning UK staycations based on public transports; travel by train is actually one of the most fun ways to travel!
8. Hike Bike and Swim
Hike bike and swim: what is says on the tin! We put this in here as we have found that if you plan a healthy active UK staycation that involve these you will naturally be drawn to beautiful nature reserves and National Parks. Connecting with nature, camping, glamping or staying in little local cottages all lend themselves to being more environmentally friendly holidays. In the pursuit of nature, you escape the crowds and make space to remember how beautiful and important our planet is.
9. Avoid Overtourism
Another huge issue with UK staycations being on the rise is that most people just head to the same handful of places. This issue is true of most places in the world. For those of you that are not familiar, overtourism is kind of how it sounds, it’s when too many people crowd to one popular tourist area and inevitably damage and spoil it. This overcrowding can cause physical damage as well as serious issues with locals.
If you are choosing a UK staycation, hopefully you don’t feel the need to only go to iconic famous spots anyway. As always, we have you covered, we have put together an epic list of ideas for Eco Friendly UK staycations! (Also COMING SOON …sorry)
10. Get off Grid
Whether you really wild it up and wild camp or book yourself into a simple off grid cabin, getting offgrid is a super exciting option for an Eco Friendly UK staycation. There is something about being off grid that is both invigorating and peaceful. Not only do these kind of getaways naturally lend themselves to being eco friendly, but they remind you of what an abundance you have become accustomed to, which for many effects them quite deeply in their journey towards a more sustainable lifestyle.
11. KISS
KISS is an acronym you hear a lot in design, Keep It Simple Stupid. I think it’s beautifully applicable to planning an Eco Friendly UK staycation. There is beauty in simplicity and often choosing to stay in one place, out in nature and planning little more than a handful of local adventures leads to the most fulfilling holidays. Surely, your holiday should be the one time you do slow down. The great thing about simple holidays is you quite simple enjoy the joys of loved ones and nature, you’re not relying on theme parks, shopping malls tech-tastic experience. -Not saying I don’t love a good theme park, but there is a beauty to simple holidays that are naturally more eco friendly.
12. Don’t Over plan
Over planning often leads to over preparing which often leads to over buying, which is of course unnecessary and often wasteful! Sound familiar? It really is too easy to get caught up in overthinking and over planning.
The luxury of a UK staycation is that you don’t need to overplan, you are familiar with the country. Often if you are doing a self catering staycation, most places are very well set up. You are not too far from home if things do go wrong. On every level planning can be simplified, enjoy!
Are UK Staycations more Eco Friendly than a holiday abroad?
This is a great question to grapple with and as you would imagine the answer isn’t simple. Ultimately our blog is about encouraging people who love travel towards being more environmentally conscientious in the way that they travel. Longer overseas trips done can have a low carbon footprint and not only have minimal impace on the environment, but actually work towards supporting causes and local communities that truly needed it.
Conversely the boom in UK staycations has resulted in a lot of damage, trashing and tension in places within our own country. As mentioned earlier there are also terrible un-environmentally friendly hotels and food chains here in the UK that don’t treat their staff well.
The shortest answer would be to say that educating yourself and learning Eco friendly travel habits is the best way for everyone to do their bit towards positive travel that has minimal impact on the environment.
It is about balance, if you are looking for a weekend getaway, perhaps don’t fly to europe and back for a city break. Consider a glamping getaway along your nearest coast. If you are planning a longer holiday you can look into jungle adventures where you get involved with supporting animal sanctuaries and tree planting. Eco Friendly holidays can be so much fun, we have put together an epic list of 8 Eco Friendly Holiday Ideas to get you excited about your next trip!
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