1. Why a UK holiday home is good for sustainability
There is always going to be a need for international travel. Business needs and broadening the mind will never disappear from our agenda. But, air travel, once or more a year, purely for holidays? We’re all beginning to see that it’s not helping the planet. The aircraft themselves are responsible for high levels of dangerous emissions, but the airports are throwing out massive amounts of carbon too. So, by flying less and holidaying in the UK you’re already helping sustainability. It’s greener!
There’s something else too. Holidays are about happiness, right? Well, it seems that flying might just be more about misery.
Business Insider recently covered a whole list of reasons why air travel isn’t a happy experience. Delayed flights in hot weather have caused passengers not just inconvenience, but problems with health including dehydration. (Let’s not dwell on the irony that aircraft and airports have contributed to the climate change that’s caused the weather conditions...)
Turbulence is another major worry. It never was pleasant, and it’s on the up. As early as 2020, a study showed an increase in clear air turbulence (CAT) of 55% between 1979 and 2020. By 2024 more and more reports were endorsing the change. All the indications are that the problems are going to get worse, and as they do the delays will get longer. It’s a vicious circle.
Suddenly staying at home - in your own UK holiday home - seems like not just a good idea, but a good idea to help sustainability.
2. Accessibility to locally sourced, sustainable food
Let’s not talk aeroplane ‘food’. The inverted commas say it all. On the ground though, how many times have you heard that conversational cliché about how important it is to eat what the locals eat? And how often does that actually happen on your holidays?
Massive amounts of our food gets moved around the world by air. Cutting down our ‘food miles’ is an important way of helping the planet. And a holiday at your own UK holiday home is a brilliant opportunity to shop and eat locally. Here’s the the thing. When you have your own UK holiday home you get to know places. Places where they sell good, local food and ingredients. What that means is that you’re tasting the food that’s local to your holiday home, and learning about the area, at the same time as enjoying tasty meals.
The UK has a vast range of regional foods and local specialities, all making the area unique. There’s a growing selection of independent stores, farm shops and local restaurants (you’re on holiday – treat yourselves), all providing high-quality, local food. That’s no air miles – super sustainable.
Holiday home locations with Tingdene Holiday Parks put you in exactly the right place to savour all that’s best about the UK.
Try Mablethorpe in Lincolnshire for example, a county renowned for sausages and the legendary Yellowbelly Cheese.
Or Tingdene Redcar Beach in North Yorkshire, where locally caught cod and haddock make the fish and chips a national treasure.
In East Yorkshire, you’ll find the Lobster Capital of Europe at Bridlington, and there you’ll find Tingdene South Shore holiday park.
Norfolk’s Cromer Crabs are a legend, close to Waveney River Centre and Caldecott Hall Country Park.
And, finally, Suffolk’s iconic Adnams brewery in Southwold is a must when you’re at Tingdene Broadlands Park & Marina or Tingdene North Denes Caravan Park.
And, you’re helping the local economy of the area at the same time as reducing the amount of food miles because you’re not buying food that’s been flown in. And look around. The UK is blessed with lots of fantastic food markets. A trip around the stalls can be a really great part of your UK holiday. What’s better than going back to your own holiday home loaded with fresh local fruit, vegetables, fish and local delicacies? Well, eating that fresh local fruit, vegetables, fish, and local delicacies, that’s what. And helping the planet while you do it. Result!
3. Sustainable travel and the carbon footprint of tourism
‘Are we nearly there yet?’
Yes, it’s become a favourite joke and honestly, when it’s a little one asking from the back of the car it can be cute. All that excitement!
But, it’s a lovely little phrase that lingers long in the memories. Memories of finding your way to a location that even Satnav got wrong; or the suggested shortcut that got very…long. Overseas or overland, the mystery of travel can soon lose its magic. Your anxiety rises as the fuel gauge lowers. If you’ve already made sustainable steps and gone electric, this is where range anxiety kicks in.
So much of what makes holiday travel stress disappears when you, literally, know where you’re going. Your own UK holiday home becomes a well-known destination. You know the way there, and you know what to expect when you get there.
It’s comforting, welcoming - and can be sustainable. Travelling by car is much better than flying, of course. Or even getting public transport like the train to your holiday destination would be even better. And don’t forget, you could even carbon offset your holiday travel, making it a completely sustainable choice.
Think for example about owning a brand new Carlton lodge on the Broads National Park - you’ll be using fewer air miles straightaway. If you’ve made the switch to an electric car you’re helping even more, but it is worth considering that even if you travel to your holiday home by conventional car you’re making less environmental impact than when you fly abroad. Four hours in a jet generates an equivalent rate of carbon emissions to what your car produces in around ten weeks. So yes, be mindful, but trips to your UK holiday home, even by car, are greener than going abroad by air.
Having your own UK holiday home is very much about getting to know the surrounding area, taking it easy and simply strolling around. Or, simply sitting still, of course. You’ll just tend not to make car journeys from your holiday home. When you spend time at your own UK holiday home you’re far more likely to enjoy the simple pleasures while you’re there. Pleasures like walking and cycling. And the good news here is that simple activities like walking and cycling are good for you and good for the planet.
Or you might have to take the huge journey to the beach; those few steps can take it out of you, it’s a hard life sometimes! Let’s face it, a good old-fashioned day at the beach ticks a lot of boxes. You can swim. You can paddle. You can build sandcastles and fly a kite. Or you can just stretch out to catch some sun. Be careful and get factored up of course but you could actually go a nice shade of tan - while you’re being green. How cool is that?
4. Owning our own UK holiday home means you can make your own - greener - choices
This isn’t about the hotel room anymore, and it’s not about replacing a light bulb you broke in the self-catering apartment. This is your place; your very own holiday home by the sea or in the countryside.
You might let it out of course (which you can do so at certain Tingdene locations using our easy Managed letting Scheme) and if you do that’s quite green too. You’re helping another family save on air miles and be more green.
But as it is your place, you can choose to use the greenest LED light bulbs and the most energy-efficient appliances. You can make your holiday home a green destination at the end of a green journey.
When you’re there, using local shops and markets (especially for food) is very green in itself. As are reusable bags, secondhand holiday clothes and lots of other sustainable choices you can make to be green.
Wrap it all together and there’s no doubt that owning a UK holiday home makes sense regarding sustainability. And owning one on a purpose built holiday park makes a lot of sense too.
Think of it as an investment in the future. It’s a way of creating a place that will become special, somewhere to make memories with your family and friends. And it’s an investment in all our futures. Using less air miles, emitting less carbon, being more happy and enjoying just…being.
Owning your own UK holiday home is definitely a way to be more sustainable. And in so many it’s definitely stacking up to being a sustainable idea.
Our leisure time is a massive opportunity to do just that. Owning your own UK holiday home means you fly less. A Suffolk holiday home or caravan by the sea for a staycation means you’ll be greener as each year passes.
Simple things can help too. Things like leaving details of local public transport for your guests and providing them with reusable shopping bags or pointing them towards those local food markets. As for yourselves, there are simple things for you too. If you’re going out for the day, especially for a walk or to the beach, take reusable water bottles so as not to create waste and litter.
But this isn’t about lecturing you. This is about reminding you that owning your own UK holiday home is a great idea, and more than that - it’s a green idea. Each and every idea contributes to the bigger picture. No single idea will save our planet on its own. But all of these simple things are part of the concept of owning your own UK holiday home. And that is a bigger concept. It’s a concept that’s gaining traction every day.
And, as more and more people realise the benefits to the environment that come with less air travel and less use of airports, the idea of UK holiday home ownership becomes very much part of the future of our planet. Why not invest in your future now?
