Hi everyone, Eloise here!

Usually you can find me serving food and drinks in our busy restaurant, but since the summer I’ve also been working to implement sustainable practices across the business.

As a regenerative, biodynamic vineyard and farm, respecting the environment is hugely important to all of us at Tillingham and as a result I’ve been working to ensure that this respect is continued throughout the restaurant and kitchen. Reducing our impact on the planet has never been more important, so I have been looking for ways that we can do this across the business, some of which I wanted to detail in this journal…

COMPOST:

In addition to composting our winery waste (grapes etc), we are now composting all of our fruit and veg scraps from the kitchen along with the tea and coffee grounds from the bar. These will go onto the heap in our walled garden to be used to enrich the soil for next year’s harvest!

REFILLING:

We pledged to reduce our single-use plastic use by 2022, so with the help of our wonderful suppliers, most of our deliveries are now coming in reusable crates and containers. Coldblow Coffee are sending us coffee beans in refillable tubs, and Hook & Son now deliver our milk in refillable glass bottles.

REUSING:

Whilst some packaging is unavoidable, we have been finding creative ways to reuse them. Plastic olive tubs have now become storage in the kitchen, whilst our empty wine bottles are being repurposed for candles and flowers. In the restaurant, bar and kitchen, we are recycling anything we can’t compost or reuse, aiming to send minimal waste to landfill.

CREATING:

We are now making many of our refreshments in-house, including seasonal cordials, herbal teas from the garden, and homemade oat milk and apple juice, all of which eliminate the need for single-use plastic! Watch this space in 2022 for kombuchas, pickles and cocktails too…

 

Reducing plastic and waste in hospitality is by no means an easy feat, and we are still working to reduce single-use plastic for good in the kitchen and bar. This means saying goodbye to clingfilm, j-cloths and plastic cleaning-product containers. 

 

Finally, I thought it would be nice to share a festive zero-waste recipe with you all!

This one is a great way to use up leftover citrus peels, from squeezed lemons to clementine peels, everything can be chucked in!

 

• citrus rinds, weighed
• caster sugar, equal to weight of citrus
• optional aromatics – rosemary, bay or cinnamon are all lovely additions

 

Stir together your equal quantities of citrus and sugar, adding herbs or spices if you fancy, and pop into a large glass jar. 

Leave overnight on the side. When you return, the sugar will have extracted the citrus essential oils, leaving you with a delicious fragrant syrup. 

Strain through some muslin and pour into a clean bottle. 

Stored in the fridge, this will keep for at least 2 months.

 

You can drink this like a cordial with sparkling water or add it to a cocktail of your choice!

 

All the best, 

Elo x