SUSTAINABILITY
Here at Falside Mill, we very much care for the environment which surrounds us in this beautiful, biologically diverse and wild part of the East Neuk of Fife. We’re constantly striving to reduce our environmental footprint and make our farm and events more sustainable, so here’s what we’re doing.
THE FARM
Falside Mill is part of Falside Farm which consists of 75 hectares of land. To improve the sustainability and diversity of the farm, we’ll be fully organic by March 2020. This almost eliminates the use of any artificial chemicals and fertilisers on the farm and uses more traditional rotations and livestock to add nutrition back in to the soil. Every three years, we let the land rest by sowing a species rich (and very colourful!) cover crop, which builds fertility and provides a haven for wildlife, birds and insects. Bees are incredibly important to farming and encouraging them to the farm helps with pollination. The cover crop also helps build a healthy soil and allows us to grow organic crops without reliance on artificial inputs.
THE VENUE
Falside Mill is a new venue, so we’ve unfortunately had to buy in building materials and use concrete in parts of the build, which leaves behind a carbon footprint. Where possible, we retained and reused anything we removed from the building. To compensate for the carbon footprint of the build, we planted 1500 trees around three parts of the farm. The trees are a diverse mix of trees and shrubs which include: Alder, Crab Apple, Sessile Oak, Scots Pine, Silver Birch, Wild Cherry, Blackthorn, Hazel, Hawthorn and Holly. We’ve not quantified how much carbon these trees will absorb from the atmosphere, but we’re very confident it will more than compensate for building the venue.
ENERGY
We use an electricity provider which guarantees 100% of the electricity provided to us comes from renewable energy sources and not fossil fuels.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
We’re not in to eco shaming here at Falside Mill and you can truly plan any kind of event here, including any extravagances! If you’d like to reduce the carbon footprint of your wedding though, here are some suggestions;
Guests staying in St. Andrews or Crail? The number 95 bus runs regularly from both Crail and St. Andrews and drivers are legally obliged to stop at Falside Mill road end. If you ask for a fare to Pitmilly, then ask the driver to stop at our road end.
Guests staying at Morton of Pitmilly? For the more adventurous guests, who don’t mind an off road walk back to their accommodation, we have a farm footpath which links Falside Mill and Morton of Pitmilly.
Car sharing is the easy one. Encourage your guests to plan ahead and share the journey to Falside Mill.
If you’d like more information on the farm, or our ideas on our future sustainability, please get in touch!