Meadowview Cottages
Self catering holiday cottages in Northamptonshire

At Perkins Lodge Farm we've always believed that farming and caring for the environment are essentially the same thing.

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We've followed this belief for nearly 60 years and the long term effects of our work can be seen all over the farm. Our lakes and conservation area were created in the early 1980's and have matured in to a beautiful, peaceful habitat for a wide range of birds and insects. We've also chosen to take a significant amount of land out of production to protect water courses and instead allow us to focus on farming the most productive areas of each field. In the last few years we've extended our efforts to the holiday cottages but whilst you are staying with us we hope won't notice most of them. We know however that it is an area of increasing interest for many visitors and so we've highlighted a few of the bigger contributions below:

 

In 2013 we installed 3 solar arrays on rooftops on the farm. One of these (a 30KWp system on the roof of our calving shed) provides electricity to the farm house and all three holiday cottages, reducing the amount of electricity bought onto the farm for domestic use by over 40%. We also have a long term renewable energy contract in place to provide all of the remaining power we consume. A second solar array provides electricity to our Ground Source Heat Pump (GSHP) which draws energy from the ground to provide heating and hot water to the farm house and cottages. The GSHP has removed the need for oil boilers in the cottages and greatly improved the supply of hot water too. It's often assumed that GSHP's only work with underfloor heating to provide low levels of background heat but our system produces enough hot water for 4 properties with capacity to spare.

 

Larkrise is our biggest rental property. The log cabin has an impressive level of insulation throughout along with triple glazed windows have reduced its heat requirement to just 4kw/hr. Space heating is provided by an air-source heat pump, an amazing piece of equipment that keeps the cabin at a comfortable temperature even when temperatures outside have fallen as low as -12C! The heat pump is also capable of running in reverse, providing air conditioning to the cabin during hot weather. A small gas boiler provides hot water and a small amount of additional heat to towel rails in the bathrooms.

 

The log cabin also has a heat recovery and ventilation system which removes moist, warm air from the bathrooms and kitchen. It draws fresh air from outside through allergen filters before warming it with the expelled air and returning it to the living areas. As a result the cabin always feels fresh rather than stuffy, even in summer. The result is an incredibly comfortable experience, whatever the weather is doing outside.

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We hope that all of our efforts will go virtually un-noticed as we believe technology should add to your experience rather than compromise it; however if you'd like to know more when staying with us please ask and we'll gladly show you around.