A green guest house in Snowdonia is the first in Wales to install electric charge points for cars.
The four star Bryn Bella, on the outskirts of Betws y Coed, worked with renewable energy specialists Carbon Zero on the project.
It is the latest in a series of eco-friendly firsts for the guest house run by proprietor Mark Edwards and his wife, Joan.
Mark gave up his job as a globe-trotting IT expert to take over Bryn Bella nine years ago.
He says the help and advice he’s received from Carbon Zero’s Managing Director, Gareth Jones, has been invaluable.
Seven years ago Bryn Bella achieved Green Dragon accreditation and two years ago the guest house was awarded Gold by the Green Tourism scheme.
Now they have gone a step further by installing two electric charge points for guests’ cars – one of them providing an overnight trickle charge and the other a quicker charge.
Mark said: “We started to explore the sustainable tourism route mainly because of the fact that we hate waste.
“We have cut back on waste and improved our energy efficiency which is also good for the business financially.
“We were the first guest house to achieve the Green Tourism Gold Award in North Wales.
“We’ve installed various energy saving devices, particularly the solar heating for the hot water.
“We maintain an ongoing programme of waste reduction and improvement, and we have also started to promote alternatives to bringing cars by using public transport to travel around.
“The natural extension to the car free tourism is the use of electric vehicles, and that’s when the opportunity arose to acquire two charging points, both high speed and normal transfer rate charging points.
“We’re able now to fill in a big blank in the map of northern Snowdonia and North Wales.
“People with electric cars can now come and enjoy a day’s sightseeing, recharge overnight and then carry on their journey and explore more.
“We’re hoping that this is going to open up a whole new chapter in sustainable travelling and tourism.
“The help and guidance we have had from Carbon Zero has been tremendous – Gareth has advised against certain things because they don’t stack up.
“It might have cost him money in the short term but his integrity has created a bond of trust that points to a long-term and fruitful relationship.
“When we looked to install these car charging points the first person we went to was Gareth.”
Carbon Zero boss Gareth Jones, who’s in the running to be the Institute of Directors’ UK Young Director of the Year, was delighted to be involved.
He said: “It’s great to see somebody like Mark wholeheartedly embracing the green agenda in this way.
“His forward-thinking approach is an exemplar of what can be achieved – not only is Bryn Bella much more energy efficient, the initiatives all help in terms of improving the bottom line.
“The installation of the new electric charging points is a great idea and a signpost to a bright future for eco-friendly tourism.”
