We know that choosing a wedding venue has lots of critical criteria like the location, capacity and price but also knowing that the wedding venue is continuing to look after and care for the environment is lovely feel good factor. The Longhouse was built in 2005 to a high environmental specification, in-line the Mill on the Brue’s sustainable ethos. We recently were re-awarded a Gold in the Green Tourism Business Scheme. The Gold award is given to businesses who have looked all aspects of minimising the impact the business has on the environment.
Over the years we have also won a Gold award for environmental architecture in the Green Apple Awards, and South West tourism gold award for being sustainable. We want to make The Longhouse as a green wedding venue an environmental showcase for the south west of England.
All of our four recommended caterers source all their food as locally as possible. It doesn’t seem to make any sense using lots of fuel and time to transport produce half way across the country when we have such a fantastic reputation for high quality food in Somerset.
Some of the Longhouse Green credentials
Minimal Footprint for Eco Weddings
The building design has on purpose minimised the amount of concrete used to cover its base for foundations. Instead a mixture of reinforced pillar foundations and where necessary, the conventional concrete flooring means less impact on the overall area of the site.
Geo-thermic Heating
The majority of the heat comes from geo-thermic heating (coils sunk 2m into the ground filled with diluted anti-freeze) working exactly the same as a fridge. The heat will then be transferred to under floor heating.
If your eco wedding is planned for the winter months, a highly efficient wood burner stove provides extra heat fuelled by wood from Mill on the Brue. The double glazed Pilkington K glass helps retain the heat.
Rain Water Storage
The Longhouse incorporates a massive 27,500 litre rain water storage tank under the garden flower bed. The water is pumped up to the building to flush all the loos. All the loos have a half and full flush facility.
Independant Electricity Source
We product 70% of our annual electricity requirement from by our onsite solar photovoltaic panels. Solar thermal panel installed help to heat up a majority of the water for the kitchen and hand basins. The south-facing side is predominately glass maximising the passive solar energy effect.
Eco Friendly Materials
– Re-cycled rubber tyre slates used for the entire roof.
– Sheep’s wool insulation.
– Warmcell recycled newspaper insulation.
– Doubled glazed doors and windows.
– Chemical free paint.
– Carbon Footprint & Local Businesses
– Local Bruton Architect
– Bruton building company employing local sub-contractors.
- Planted over 7,500 trees with 115 types of tree since 1984. We support local businesses buying from them first as much as possible.
