Southwaite Green Cottages Review

Posted: 01 April 2008 by Richard Hammond

Marna McMillin, owner of Southwaite Green, opened her first property to holiday lets four years ago. She's now built four more eco cottages on stunning ten acres in the Lake District, just a 40-minute walk from Wordsworth's birthplace in Cockermouth.

We took the train to Penrith and then a local bus to Cockermouth, where McMillin picked us up. If you arrive by public transport you get a ten per cent discount, so we were smug to say the least. En route she explained that her aim is for the newly built Southwaite cottages to be a showcase for more eco-friendly accommodation in the Lakes.

Although the cottages are made in the local fashion -- with local stone and slate roofs supported by high beams -- the walls have super-thick insulation, there's a ground-source heating system beneath the slate and oak floors, and outside there's an outdoor bio-digester to deal with wastewater. The cottages also have photovoltaic solar panels, recycling and composting bins and kitchen appliances like ovens, fridges and kettles that are mostly A-rated.

We stayed in Beckside cottage, which has a large open-plan kitchen and living area with a log fire and views over the beck towards Lamplugh Fells. Upstairs are two double rooms with very comfortable organic bedding and handmade elm beds. The adjacent cottage, Buttermere, is a one-storey barn with just one bedroom, but the other two cottages -- Skiddaw and Esther's Barn -- both have two slate-floored spacious bedrooms at ground level (sleeping four) and oak-floored open-plan living areas upstairs.

The cottages had only just opened when we stayed there so it was early days, but McMillan explained that she has plans to develop the farmland into a wildlife-friendly estate. She's already planted fast-growing willow trees, which will be used for coppicing in the future, and has installed a pond and wider 'wetland area', and has plans to add a tennis court.

Unfortunately the water heating wasn't working properly after our long, ambling walk in the woodland around Buttermere Lake, so there wasn't enough hot water to fill the bath. When we pointed this out to McMillan the following day she explained that this was down to a few teething problems she'd had with the heating system and we understand these have now been sorted.

When we stayed at Southwaite Green the weather was against us, but the cottages still charmed us. In addition to greenie accents like organic cotton towels and non-toxic paints, the cottages are stocked with Fairtrade teas and coffees and ten per cent of profits is given to projects and charities like Action Aid, which support sustainable development in poorer countries.