Why Staying at an Eco/Sustainable B&B Feels Different (In a Good Way)

Passivhaus Living

28 Jun

Woodlands Malvern B&B, sustainable accommodation in the Malvern Hills

We’re located near Great Malvern, a beautiful spa town on the edge of the Malvern Hills – a perfect base for green getaways in the West Midlands.

What Makes a B&B Eco or Sustainable?

Woodlands Malvern B&B is an award-winning ‘eco’ home built to the Passivhaus standard – the gold standard of building energy efficiency. At Woodlands, you can enjoy a break from the bustle of everyday life in the quiet and comfort of the house and the tranquility of the surrounding countryside of the Malvern Hills Natural Landscape.

Many articles on the subject talk about the incredibly low cost of heating a passive house (which is true), but having built and then lived in one for over six years we would say that the most striking feature is their extraordinarily high standard of indoor comfort. (You can read a detailed description about our experiences of passive house living in another post.)

Because of its design, we, and our B&B guests, enjoy a pervading peacefulness at Woodlands: a relaxing quietness and stillness, with a remarkably even temperature throughout the house regardless of the weather, and a constant supply of fresh, filtered air (rather like having a window open in each room year-round but without any draughts).

“We’ve just returned from four nights at Woodlands. Our first time in a Passivhaus and we were really impressed. The atmosphere was superb as were the facilities. The location is outstanding and extremely peaceful.”

— Nicholas M

“We went to stay at Woodlands to see if we could sleep in a Passive house where the bedroom temperature is 21°C – no problem, extremely comfortable.”

— Nicky M

You can see in full our B&B guests’ reviews quoted here, and others, on Google

Cool in summer, warm in winter

In contrast to conventional buildings in the UK, the very high levels of insulation and airtightness of a passive house mean that the interior is sheltered from outdoor temperatures. The figure below shows the indoor and outdoor temperatures at Woodlands Malvern B&B throughout 2024 (measured by data loggers every 30 minutes); the averages shown hardly differ year-to-year.

It is also noteworthy that at no time in 2024 did the indoor temperature exceed 25°C. In previous years it has exceeded 25°C less than 0.1% of the time. (The definition of ‘overheating’ in a Passivhaus is when the indoor temperature exceeds 25°C more than 10% of the time, and although our design anticipated just 2% our actual performance is very much better than this.)

Indoor and outdoor temperatures at Woodlands Malvern B&B in 2024 showing the remarkable constancy of the indoor temperature whatever the weather — Make it stand out

Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

To further show the effectiveness of the Passivhaus design in practice, we can look at what happened at Woodlands Malvern B&B during two temperature extremes in 2022: the heatwave in July and the cold snap in December, shown in the figures below. In July, despite an outdoor temperature of just over 34°C, the indoor temperature only briefly reached a maximum of 25.1°C, and in December when it was -9.77° outside, it was 19.3C indoors, with a minimal need for heating.

**Indoor (main bedroom) and outdoor (shade) temperatures (°C) at Woodlands: 00.01 on 16 July to 24.00 on 19 July, 2022**

**Indoor (main bedroom) and outdoor (shade) temperatures (°C) at Woodlands: 00.01 on 12 December to 24.00 on 17 December, 2022**

Light, airy and fresh, yet cosy

With large windows, most reaching to the floor, a permanent, imperceptible and draught-free supply of fresh air throughout the house, a double-height hallway and rooms upstairs with 3.3 metre-high ceilings, Woodlands Malvern B&B always feels light and airy. Yet, paradoxically, the house also feels cosy, most likely because of the even temperature throughout and lack of draughts. Staying at Woodlands Malvern B&B really does feel different.

Sustainability at Woodlands Malvern B&B

We are not just efficient in our use of energy; we also seek to take a broader approach to our environmental impact. For example, Woodlands Malvern B&B’s embodied carbon has been calculated to achieve the equivalent of a LETI (London Energy Transformation Initiative) 'A' rating for whole-life carbon, which is some 72% less carbon emission than current standard practice. (You can read more about our embodied carbon calculation from page 28 in this edition of Passive House Plus magazine.) This, plus our use of a ground source heat pump for domestic hot water and (minimally required) space heating and cooling, our recent purchase of an electric vehicle, and a supplier providing 100% green electricity from sources such as wind, solar and hydro helps us to have a low carbon footprint.

Also, most of our food and drink is sourced locally from farm shops and a local farm producing fruit juice. ( Food purchased from other sources is chosen for assurance of high quality animal welfare.) And for breakfasts, the plum and damson jams served we make from our own fruit. (We have just started caring for our own bees so that, in future, the honey we serve will be especially ‘local’.)

Best eco-home award

We were delighted that Woodlands Malvern B&B won the Built It Award accolade ‘Best Eco Home’. The judges were looking for self-build homes designed and constructed to be as efficient and sustainable as possible. Taking into account “overall design, efficiency and innovation, and how the homeowners’ needs were addressed, with a specific focus on energy performance”, they said of Woodlands:

“By showing that beauty and sustainability go hand-in-hand, this Passivhaus-rated project ticks all the boxes for an eco-house whilst harnessing the unique character of oak”

For us, internally the oak frame enhances the unique Passivhaus environment. And outside, the oak frame balconies and gable ends, and the upper floor wooden cladding provide a traditional look to house which enhances that ‘different feel’ of our Passivhaus eco/sustainable home.

Set in the Malvern Hills National Landscape

The views from and around around Woodlands Malvern B&B are particularly beautiful and restful. The house is set in what used to be called the Malvern Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty; the name may have changed but the stunning scenery hasn’t.

The house was built on part of a former soft fruit farm and overlooks fields and orchards, SSSI-designated woodland, and hills. There are walks both here and, of course, on the nearby Malvern Hills (see more details in this post).

“...the home-made cake which we enjoyed in the evening, sitting on the lovely and totally peaceful terrace, overlooking breath-taking views...”

— Rebecca K

“Thank you Andrew and Linda for being excellent hosts. The location, food and comfort of the room were amazing. ”

— Sue F

“We have just returned from a wonderful 3-night stay at Woodlands. It is quite probably the most relaxing break we have had.
Andrew and Linda’s home is absolutely beautiful. The setting in which it stands is simply stunning.
It also has that most rare of commodities in this day and age; silence. It is a delight to just sit outside on the terrace listening to (apart from birdsong) absolutely nothing.”

— David and Mel J

**Malvern Hills seen across our plum orchard**

**Suckley Hills to the north seen across our pear orchard**

Rewilding at Woodlands Malvern B&B, and wildlife visitors

We are also engaged in developing and caring for once commercial plum and pear orchards, mixed native hedging and various trees. You can find out more, with several before-and-after photographs, in this post. We’ll be pleased to tell you more about this.

We also get a number of visitors, particularly pheasants, muntjac and roe deer sometimes in the early morning, and occasionally a fox and even a badger in the later evening. There are also a variety of birds in the garden and the surrounding area.