• about us:
• links:
• advertise:
• log in:
• join our club:
• contact:
• f.a.q:
• home

• holiday themes|
• holiday destinations|
• be inspired|
• special offers|
• newsletter

Guilden Gate - Tour of an Organic Smallholding - Hertfordshire, England

months available

January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

Facilities & Awards

Description

Guided Tours of Guilden Gate - An interesting and entertaining insight into what makes an organic smallholding tick.

Who we are
We are Simon and Jacqueline Saggers the current generation of the Saggers family who have lived and worked in Bassingbourn since the 1600s.

How it all began
Having drawn up various plans and thrown numerous ideas around the real hard work began in October 1999 when we bought 4.2 acres of farmland and embarked on the lifelong task of creating Guilden Gate.

Our vision is to create an integrated, sustainable smallholding. We see our role not as agricultural factory managers, overseeing a production line but as an integral part of a living smallholding.

To achieve this we have created a mixed mosaic of native hedging, wild flower meadows, coppice woodland, vegetable fields and fruit orchards that yield organic vegetables, herbs and fruit. The object is not to produce a huge yield of one crop but to create a rich, diverse and interconnected smallholding 'eco-system'.

Life on the smallholding
Our design plan for Guilden Gate has sustainability as its guiding principle and aims to close as many resource cycles as possible. The cottage we have built is at the 'heart' of both the holding and the sustainable design. The cottage includes materials, technology and environmentally sensitive concepts that we hope offer a new vision for the country cottage in this new millennium.

The smallholding meets its water requirements through rainwater harvest and a borehole. We have also installed a complete recycling system for our greywater. This comprises of straw and bark filters vertical and horizontal flow reed beds as well as a solar pond and a willow trench soakaway. We are not on mains sewerage as we have a dry twin vault compost toilet.

Guilden Gate independently generates its own net energy needs from renewable resources. The sun, when it shines, heats our water and our wind turbine meets our electricity requirements. The woodland, planted in 1999, will provide all our wood for heating.  Our energy conservation when combined with the provision of our own energy, means, Guilden Gate is a net zero C02 emissions site.

The holding aims to keep external inputs to a minimum and minimise the creation of waste. We re-use and recycle as much as possible on site. The holding is fully organic and is Soil Association Certified. No GMOs are used or consumed at Guilden Gate.

Guided Tours of Guilden Gate
An interesting and entertaining insight into what makes the smallholding tick.

The tours cover low energy/ passive solar house design, renewable energy systems, organic vegetable and herb growing, orchard and woodland exploration, free ranging chickens, wildflower meadows, veggie box scheme, bee keeping, protected cropping, autonomous water services and other areas of interest involved with living and working in a more sustainable way.

The tours have been of interest to everyone from academics to architects and anyone interested in a more sustainable lifestyle.

Our standard site tour includes a tour of the project site highlighting key elements of landscaping and the topics outlined above. This tour usually lasts approximately 2hrs and includes light refreshments. Our rate for this tour is £25 for up to five people, £40 for up to 10 and £60 for up to 15. If you then want to expand this into a more technical written or verbal exercise we can agree an additional fee at that point.

If you know you want an in depth tour, which includes a tour of the inside of the house including the twin vault compost toilet and gives time to explore the specialist technical areas of your interest, we have a tour that lasts for approx. 2½ hours that includes light refreshments. Our rate for this tour is £40 for a group of up to 5 and £60 for up to 10 people.

Larger groups and school parties are welcomed and rates are dependent on the specific group requirements.  Although we don't have accommodation on site we can recommend local B&Bs, hotels etc.  Please contact us for information on 01763 243960

more details