THE FAMILY owners of a Lake District holiday park are claiming success in their bid to keep Cumbria’s rivers clean.
Skelwith Fold caravan park in Ambleside is now treating up to 40,000 litres of waste water every day using specially cultivated beds of sweet-scented iris plants.
The blooms, says park directo make the water safe.
Now Henry is offering to discover an eco-friendly way of tackling an age-old waste water problem:
“With sometimes almost two thousand people on the park each night, we are obviously asking a lot of our iris plants, but they rise wonderfully to the challenge!” he said.
“They transfer oxygen down to the soil.
“We have experimented with other water cleansing plants, and reeds also work well – but irises seem to reducing ammonia, so we now use a combination of the two.
“The iris is a wetland plant, so they love the conditions and also produce a floral display which adds a fantastic splash of colour to the forest glade where the bed grows.
“Our tests on the treated water show this tory about the healthiness of the ecosystem we’ve created,”” added Henry.
Henry is keen to share his experience with other holiday parks, many of which – like Skelwith Fold – are located in more remote rural areas and must deal with waste water on site.
The park is a long-time holder of the David Bellamy Conservation Award at its to the raft of different environmental initiatives it undertakes.
Many of these offer benefits tors.
Skelwith Fold, he reports, is now experiencing one of the busiest summers in his family’s 20-years of ownership, with many guests preferring a greener UK stay to flying abroad.
The park provides luxury glamping pods, safari tents, holiday homes torhomes. There is more information at www.skelwith.com