The backbone of our ethos at Skye Eco Bells is to work respectfully with the natural environment, building a safe haven for the diverse wildlife that lives here whilst creating a simple yet cosy and comfortable base from which you can explore Skye.....or simply enjoy a peaceful retreat from the stresses of modern technology.
We have turned over half of our 9 acre croft to rewild naturally, increasing the habitats for insects, animals and birds and increasing the biodiversity of wild plants and flowers, year on year. Since 2013, we have planted thousands of native species tree: alder, hazel, rowan, downy birch, Scots pine, oak, willow, aspen, hawthorne, holly, wild cherry and elder to name but a few. This was our first step in allowing nature to regenerate itself. Our earliest planted trees are now beginning to reproduce naturally, supplying young trees which can be planted elsewhere on our croft. We only cut a minimal amount of grass and infrequently, around the entrance and alongside paths. This is encouraging wild native plants and flowers to reestablish as an incredibly important home and food source for insects. We grow as much of our own food as possible in our vegetable and fruit gardens and polytunnel, utilising manure from our horses and hens as well as composting food waste to fertilise our crops and keep the soil healthy. Growing our own food crops and keeping hens for eggs, helps us to reduce our carbon footprint and food miles.
We reduce the amount of waste going in to landfill by composting your food waste and recycling as much of your rubbish as possible. We provide recycling bins as well as composting buckets in both camp kitchens for you to help with this. There is also a recycling bin in each cabin and tent so you can help us by separating your rubbish from recycling.
All of our cleaning products, laundry detergents, bin bags and fire lighters are ethically sourced, plant derived and either biodegradable or compostable. This means that toxic and damaging chemicals are not being released in to the environment and we are not adding more plastic to landfill. These products are not cheap but we feel that the price is worth it to know that we are doing less damage.
We (Scott & Nadia), built Eco Bells from scratch. When we acquired our 9 acre croft in 2013, most of it was open fields used for grazing cattle but the whole area which is now the carpark, entrance, the courtyard and veg garden, was piled up to 6 feet high with the previous occupants rubbish and waste materials from his business. ‘One mans rubbish is another’s treasure” We recycled and repurposed this ‘rubbish’ wherever possible. Materials which might otherwise have ended up in landfill included: pallets, bricks, wood, pipes, corrugated iron, barrels, car wheels (fire pits), a cattle feeder(herb garden), a caravan(The Hub), a shipping container and the obligatory kitchen sink or three!
We provide biodegradable, premium shampoo, shower gel, conditioner, hand soap, hand sanitiser and washing up liquid which are better for the environment and better for your skin. The products provided in the shower are from Faith in Nature, a UK company
Every time a toilet is flushed it uses clean drinking water to wash away waste. We use dry composting toilets, saving around 300 litres of clean water a day from being flushed away. There is an information board by the compost toilets which explains how they work in more detail.
There is no electricity at Eco Bells. The reason for this is to simplify the experience and provide you with a beneficial respite from modern technology: a return to mindful processes, social connections and a reconnection with the natural rhythms of nature, all without the digital distractions of the 21st century and who doesn’t love a bit of candle light! Whilst this can make running and developing Eco Bells challenging for us (particularly building projects), we also value the opportunity to not be overly reliant on electricity and to try and ‘think outside the (modern) box’.
To reduce our use of fossil fuels, we replaced our traditional, petrol powered land management machinery with battery powered strimmer, chainsaw and leaf blower. The powerful batteries are charged using renewable electricity. All the lights on site are either rechargeable, also using renewable energy or solar powered.
With over 600 visitors per year, we inevitably have a lot of bedding, towels, dish cloths and cleaning cloths to launder. Whilst we use biodegradable laundry detergent for washing, we also line dry everything (when the Skye weather allows). The Skye winds can dry a load of laundry in record time but we do have to use special storm pegs to prevent everything from blowing away! Line drying enables us to drastically reduce Eco Bells energy usage.
We use a grey water filtration system, similar to a reed bed system but using willow trees instead of reeds. Water is filtered through layers of varying sized gravel and stones before passing through an organic layer of wood chip and passing out in to our field drain system. The surrounding trees further filter impurities through their root systems.
We’re not finished yet! Skye Eco Bells is a labour of love and we have many, many more plans, ideas and experiments to work on in the future, to develop Eco Bells and improve your experience, continue to protect and nurture our little corner of Skye and support our family in as sustainable a way as possible.
“Come to the woods, for here is rest”, John Muir, Scottish born environmentalist, author and “Father of the National Parks”.