We're green AND clean
Our laundry is not just clean, but green here at Sharpham, now that we're working with a new supplier.
We've taken on Lola Grogan's Eco-Laundry to ensure that our washing is as sustainable as it could be.
Lola's company, based near Dartmouth, offers a clean and green laundry service. She uses detergents that don't harm the environment and processes that are designed to be sustainable and in harmony with the planet.
"We can now say that all our washing is done sustainably," says Sharpham's House Manager Denise Scribbins. "And it's done locally, just a few miles away."
Each week, the Eco-Laundry takes in bags of sheets, bedding and towels used by participants on retreat here. Lola collects the laundry and it's taken to her base where it's washed, dried and ironed, in readiness for our next retreats.
"We did a trial with Lola early on in the year," said Denise. "It worked well for both of us so now we've decided to work with the Eco-Laundry all the time."
Lola's background is in marketing and general management, working for big international companies. She moved to the South West five years ago for a better pace of family life but still runs a property management company with her husband.
In managing properties, she began to wonder about the energy that goes into washing clothes, bedding and towels for visitors. "I thought there had to be an ecological alternative to laundering but when I looked, there was nothing in the UK," she said.
In the meantime, she'd made her own home as sustainable as it could be by installing a woodchip biomass boiler (Sharpham also uses one), solar panels (Sharpham has those too) and a water borehole, and sourced her energy from renewables.
So Lola set up a new green laundry business from her home. Now, after 16 months she has a busy roster of clients across the South Hams, including Sharpham, and she's taken on more staff and machines.
"Friends who had attended mindfulness courses told me about Sharpham and I love it here," said Lola. "It's ethos fits so well with what we do...it's a good marriage!"
Find out more about the Eco-Laundry here
