Eco Waterside Stays

The Pier House, Port Appin, Argyll 

If a place has Gordon Campbell Gray’s name behind it, you know it’s going to be good. After a lifetime opening internationally fabulous hotels (Beirut, London, Bahrain, Antigua…), and known for his art, food, philanthropy and sustainability, Campbell Gray returned to his native Scotland in 2019 to launch The Wee Hotel Company . So far it comprises the renowned Three Sisters on Skye and the lochside Pier House, both famous for their food, with the Pier House already stacking up an impressive number of awards: National Restaurant of the Year 2023-24,  two AA rosettes and inclusion in the Michelin Guide for Great Britain and Ireland since 2021.

The 12 bedrooms are either cliff- or sea -facing but all are bright and cosy with lots of art. Meals in The Pierhouse restaurant are a highlight, with spectacular local seafood: langoustine, hand-picked oysters, mussels and lobsters, and equally spectacular views of the mountains of Mull and Morven across the blue waters of the Loch Innhe. For a remote place there is plenty to do: Dan the Merman runs weekend wild swimming in the loch, and foodies can take a foraging ramble with Lucy Cooke (aka The Wild Cooke),  along the shores, hedgerows and woodlands. You can even try a Whispering Highland Cow Walk in Achinreir Farm in Barcaldine, 27 miles north,  where you learn about the de-stressing benefits of hanging out with beautiful Highland cattle, whose slow demeanour and cud-chewing is said to ease anxiety.

Eco credentials:

Gold Green Tourism Accredited and a green team is in charge of eco-initiatives such as installing a water filtration unit and two electric vehicle chargers. Energy consumption is monitored; all lightbulbs have been updated to LED, plant-based, eco-friendly cleaning products are used, and bathroom amenities are made of ethically-sourced ingredients in refillable bottles.

Chef Michael Leathley sources most ingredients from within a 50-mile radius, and 75% of food is Scottish. Fish comes from Marine Conservation Society-approved sustainable sources, they cure most of their own meat and fish, and do much of the butchery on-site to minimise waste. Jams, granola, bakery and pastries are made in-house, there is a coffee grounds recycling scheme, and the kitchen is working towards eliminating cling-film, aluminium foil and baking parchment.

Doubles from £200, B&B

Another Place, The Lake, Ullswater, Lake District, Cumbria

Spread along lawns that lead down to the edge of Lake Ullswater, Another Place is something of a one-stop shop if water-based adventure is your thing.  Time your stay for the full moon, and endurance swimmer Colin Hill (a member of the Ice Water Hall of Fame for swimming in Siberia and Arctic without a wetsuit) will guide you on a magical, star-gazing dip in the icy water – fully kitted out with wetsuits, boots, gloves, hats and a lantern float. And if you’re a paddleboarding newbie, placid Ullswater is the place to learn, with guided tuition making for a surprisingly short transition from kneeling to standing. When you’re done messing about in the water, there are plenty of bracing hikes to up your step count.

The hotel itself is chilled, cosy and clubby, an extended Georgian country house now incorporating an indoor infinity pool, a spa, three restaurants, a terrace, a library, and lots of sofas for lounging. Stay in one of the 47 individually designed bedrooms, or choose from the six shepherd’s huts, with glass ceilings for stargazing and copper bathtubs, or book the  stylish ‘treehouse’, with its own terrace overlooking the lake.

Eco credentials:

Currently going through the rigorous B Corp application process, Another Place uses renewable energy, including a biomass boiler, supports community conservation projects, implements waste reduction systems, with at least 80% recycled. They hire staff from the area, and food for the restaurants is locally sourced, with fish coming from managed sustainable waters.

Reusable carafes of filtered water are refilled for the rooms, amenities are packaged in recycled and recyclable bottles, and restaurant deliveries come in reusable crates and recyclable cardboard.

Doubles from £270, B&B

North Lodge and River Cabin, Glen Dye, Aberdeenshire

Overlooked by the massive granite tor of Clachnaben, and at the northern end of the spectacular Cairn o’ Mount mountain pass, Glen Dye is set among woods, moorlands and hills, where you can spot red kites, owls, sea eagles, badgers and red and roe deer. The private 15,000-acre estate, on the banks of the river Dye, has nine gorgeously designed guest cabins and cottages scattered around the grounds, as well as a boutique camping area. Best of all, the three-bedroom North Lodge comes with a private riverside cabin, a wood-fired hot tub, and Big Green Egg  barbecue, the king of alfresco-grilling hardware.

All guests can use the wood-fired sauna, stationed next to the vegetable garden, buy local meat, fish and store cupboard basics from the little shop, and take their own booze to the cute, onsite pub, The Glen Dye Arms,  complete with stone-flagged floor, dart board and roaring fire. And new for this year is the Discovery & Adventure Centre, offering bushcraft and cold-water immersion courses.

Eco credentials:

They have a private water supply and grow vegetables in the kitchen garden. Any that are not used, are sold or made into soup. Guests can collect eggs from the hens, some of which are rescues. Venison, which is culled on the wider estate, is used in casseroles and burgers, and is the country’s most sustainable meat. The estate uses local suppliers, compost everything they can and recycle virtually everything else. Cleaning products are environmentally friendly, too, and they have a super-fast, electric-car charging facility, so you can drive there in an EV.

North Lodge, sleeping six,  starts from £385 per night, Glen Dye camping pitches from £49, £175 for a B&B room in The Coach House

The Lakes by Yoo, Lechlade on Thames, Cotswolds

With its luxuriously designed lakeside homes, and collaborations with the likes of Jade Jagger and Kate Moss, this exclusive Cotswolds retreat has long been a rural escape for the rich and famous. Designed by Yoo, the successful Philippe Starck/John Hitchcox partnership, which transformed the former gravel quarry into a kind of Cotswolds ‘Hamptons’/nature playground, with timber-framed houses with huge windows, scenic waterfront verandahs, and arty interiors with wood-burning stoves and red velvet armchairs.

With 850 acres of lakes, woodlands and meadows, the houses (both owned and rented) and cabins are spaced out with privacy in mind. Although appealing to families with its kids’ club, woodland trails, farmyard and rescued rare-breed pigs, when you consider the canoeing, kayaking and zip-wiring, plus a newly launched Spa by YOO, where you can try unique Dawn and Dusk rituals in the UK’s first COSMOSS by Kate Moss treatment room, a 17-metre pool, and mixologists on standby to host cocktail tastings in your cabin, you might want to shortlist it for an upmarket, back-to-nature hen weekend or landmark birthday.

Eco credentials:

Designated a Cotswold Site of Special Scientific Interest, it has to be managed according to Natural England regulations, and they actively encourage birds and wildlife. They have a low outdoor-lighting policy to reduce light pollution, local materials were used in the construction, there is a conservation park with 500,0000 planted trees, and rewilding is a top priority. There is an onsite farm and they cultivate bees, and when the yew trees are pruned, offcuts are sent to be used in cancer medication.

Two-bedroom lakeside cabins from £995 per night

WildLuing, Luing, Inner Hebrides

These eight sleek, tube-shaped cabins, aka WildSuites, each sleeping two, are ranged along the shores of the Bay of Torsa, on the tiny island of Luing, in the remote Inner Hebrides. One of the Slate Islands, off Scotland’s west coast, it is only six miles long and one mile across, and the bay is small and almost encircled by land, giving it the feel of a calm loch rather than the wild Atlantic.  Hand-built by local craftspeople with Emily, Jack and Archie Cadzow, whose family have farmed here for more than 75 years, the cabins were constructed on top of repurposed railway sleepers,  so they can be removed without a trace, with no impact on the environment.

From the outside they may look a tad spartan but inside you’ll find roll-top baths, deep sofas, compact kitchens and cosy beds. Each has a decking area with a fire pit for autumn/spring Northern Lights viewing, or those chilly summer nights when the sky barely darkens. Go on a water safari looking for otters and seals, gannets and Golden Eagles, and if you’re lucky, you may even spot whales and dolphins. You can cook for yourselves, head 17 miles north to foodie Oban to dine out or stock up,  or try the small community island shop for essentials and meat from the Cadzows’ farm. Breakfast hampers can be pre-ordered, with farm eggs, fresh bread and seasonal fruit, and the on-site cook, Kitty, can whisk up pre-prepared meals for you to cook,

Eco credentials:

They run regular beach-cleans and build bird boxes to encourage more birdlife. The WildSuites were hand built, using mostly local raw materials, with very efficient insulation to reduce heating, and LED bulbs. They use eco-friendly cleaning products. The family has implemented green initiatives such as mob grazing (‘short duration, high intensity grazing), using wind turbines to harness renewable energy, and planting trees such as hawthorn plum and cherry. The kitchen uses fresh, local produce where possible, limiting food miles and repurposing most food waste. The oyster farm benefits the environment, as oysters purify the water and sequester nitrogen and Co2.

WildSuites from £195 a night, sleeps two. Dogs £20

Heckfield Place, Hook, Hampshire

Set on its own lake, this glorious converted Georgian manor house (allegedly) welcomed Harry and Meghan after Archie’s birth, and we bet they would have loved it for the 400 acres of grounds with woodlands, walled gardens, biodynamic market garden, organic farm and sustainability mission.

The 45 rooms are done in earthy colours, in keeping with its environmental aesthetic, with walls adorned with the owners’ private art collection.  Two signature restaurants, Hearth and Marle (chilled pea soup with crab or chicken with seaweed butter, anyone?), are overseen by executive chef Michael Chapman and Skye Gyngell, who won a Michelin Green Star for Marle’s ethical and eco standards.

Eco Credentials:

It is the first UK hotel with a 100% biodynamic certified farm estate, including a market garden which grows veg, fruit and flowers for the restaurants.  They have their own dairy, their bees supply honey, the home farm produces wheat, barley and spelt, they rear their own sheep and cows, and they operate a zero-waste policy in the kitchen.

Doubles from £600, room only