Sustainability Policy

Sandburn Hall is set on a 1000 acre country estate. We are passionate about caring for our surroundings and we understand the need to protect our natural environment and its inhabitants, and to limit the day-to-day impact of our actions. We aim to follow and champion good sustainability practices, to continually work towards reducing the environmental impacts of our activities and to give something back to our local community and the environment.

Green Awards

We are delighted to have achieved a Green Tourism Bronze Award and a Green Meetings Bronze award, and we are continuing our journey working towards being a more sustainable business and making a positive impact on the environment and our local community.

In September 2025, we won the Environment Award in the West & North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce ‘Raising the Bar Awards’ (Medium Business Category) in recognition for our continuous work to lower its carbon footprint, implement sustainable practices, and build a greener future.

Food & Drink

Since opening Tykes Restaurant in 2005, we have been committed to working with local suppliers and showcasing the best produce from our region. We have built longstanding relationships with many local food and drink producers, and our menus change regularly to reflect the seasons, allowing us to make the most of fresh, locally sourced ingredients when they are at their best.

As part of our ongoing commitment to reducing food miles and supporting local production, we have begun rearing our own beef on Sandburn Estate. This enables us to source high-quality beef directly from the estate while reducing the distance food travels from farm to plate.

We have also collaborated with local distillery Sloemotion to create our own Sandburn Estate Dry Gin, made using botanicals foraged sustainably from across the estate. This partnership allows us to celebrate the natural resources of our surroundings while supporting another local business.

Energy

We have installed 1,000 solar panels across the estate, supplying approximately 50% of our energy needs on average. The remaining electricity we use from the grid is certified as 100% renewable.

To reduce energy consumption, we have replaced all gas kitchen equipment with electric alternatives, switched the majority of our lightbulbs to LEDs, and ensured that all new appliances have an energy rating of B or higher. We have also installed a renewable heating and hot water system.

We monitor our energy use and continue to identify opportunities to reduce consumption across the estate.

Plastic

We have taken steps to reduce single use plastics throughout the business. We only offer paper straws; Milk is fresh in glass bottles in our bedrooms as opposed to UHT in plastic containers; all paper cups are made from recycled material; jams are in glass jars as opposed to plastic containers; we have refillable toiletry bottles in bedrooms and refillable soap dispensers in public areas.

Recycling & Waste

We recycle glass, plastic, paper, card, food and tins. Our waste collection supplier processes food waste which cannot be consumed through its anaerobic digestion facilities to produce Biogas, and material that cannot be recycled is incinerated to create electricity.

Landscape

We care for our surroundings and take action to benefit the landscape and wildlife including:
– Sowing wildflower meadows
– We have created lakes, making wildfowl habitats
– Leaving long rough grass in some areas of the golf course to benefit wildlife
– Creating woodland areas, encouraging wildlife and helping the environment
– Bird and owl boxes and a bug hotel are set up around the woods
– A Countryside Stewardship Agreement protects areas of lowland meadow and pasture which supports rare species including skylark; curlew, brown hare and marbled white butterfly.
– A woodland management plan is in place.

Community

We support various local sports teams including City of York Hockey Club, and Sheriff Hutton Bridge Cricket Club and regularly support local charities and organisations through raffle donations and sponsorship. Our Captain’s Charity for 2026 is St Leonard’s Hospice and Sandburn Hall has raised money over the last 12 months for Mesothelioma UK and St Leonard’s Hospice.