Eco Families Holidays: UK and Ireland Eco Escapes with Kids

We asked Catherine Mack and Laura Burgess of Ecoescape guide to green travel and friends of Take the Family to share their top 10 family eco-destinations in the UK and Ireland.

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Orchard Acre Farm

Just follow the smoke signals over Co. Fermanagh to the best eco-camping in Ireland. They will lead you to a tipi on Orchard Acre Farm, where we all tucked up under a traditional North American Indian canvas, with wood-burning brazier as its centre piece. Here, Teresa O’Hare, who runs this exquisite ecoescape, has carefully crafted the perfect recipe for incorporating her passions in life: cooking, hospitality and Fermanagh. There is one tipi, ideal for a family of four or five. This is not tipi-chic, but still good earthy camping, with gravel surface, gas-burning stove, but all done in a cute and thoughtful way.                       

The Old Schoolhouse

Two features made this stunning restoration of a 1930s Cavan schoolhouse stand out for my children: the bright red Smeg fridge, taking centre stage in the open-plan ground floor area, and the Wii. The latter was most definitely a first on the green circuit of Ireland. As was the designer wood-burning stove, set flush into a recycled marble chimney, the oak staircase with glass and brushed steel banisters and the recycled rubber roof tiles. The Old Schoolhouse does, in fact, feel very new. It is fun, spacious and cleverly designed and, a self-catering property, it is definitely made for sharing. There are four double bedrooms, three with ensuite bathrooms.

Lough Allen Adventure Centre

The Wilderness Therapy weekend is one of the specials on the menu at Lough Allen, an outdoor centre in the wilds of north-west Ireland. It involves activities such as making rafts by tying canoes together with barrels, shelters out of ponchos, building fires and foraging, cooking outdoors, sleeping in hammocks, and laughing a lot. The state-of-the-art Donegal cedarwood building is impressive in itself. This is where classes are led and meals are served. In the new changing area, there are showers running off solar-generated hot water, which also heats the new buildings, backed up by a wood-burning boiler.

Delphi Mountain Resort

The location of Delphi is an ‘ecoescape extraordinaire’, nestled between two contrasting stretches of water: Killary Harbour and the Bundorragha River in Ireland. The emphasis is more well-being than spa at Delphi. Some of the many activities on offer include kayaking, cycling, archery, hill-walking, surfing, rock-climbing and raft-building. All carbon neutral. However, I found the luxurious maisonette suite more appealing, with French windows opening out onto the mountains and logs burning in the wooden stove. I could hear nothing but the river rushing past us into the bay. And not a whine or a whimper from our children, who had been whisked off to take part in archery and kayaking sessions.

Bewilderwood

The fictional world of Boggles and Twiggles comes to life at Norfolk's boutique themepark. The story follows the adventure of Swampy, a young Marsh Boggle when he uncovers the mystery of Scary Lake. We followed in his footsteps, book in hand, and discovered shoe-stealing Thornyclod spiders and dancing wood Twiggles. The founder and author, Tom Blowfeld, unleashed his imagination and opened up a whole new world for his guests, young and old alike. So expect grown adults to hurtle through the canopy or come screaming down Slippery Sloppy slides.

The Eco-lodge

A modest little wooden cabin is a wonderful eco hideaway for the family. The lodge sleeps two adults and two children and is situated in rural Lincolnshire amongst woodland and cabbage fields. The children will love to learn more about the workings of the lodge like the water pump, wind turbine and wood-burning range. There’s space for them to run around and explore the nature trail. An organic family box can be ordered in advance and delivered to the lodge.

Global Boarders

The people at eco-surf company, Global Boarders, put together a range of package surf holidays around the coast of Cornwall. Complete beginners can be at ease with the courses, which are also suitable for children. Accommodation is provided and included in the price. It comes in the form of converted barns near and around Penzance. The barns have been restored sympathetically to the environment and their original character.

The Centre for Alternative Technology

While the rest of the world has been busy depleting natural resources in the last 30 years, Wales' Centre for Alternative Technology has been pioneering ways to build for the future. The Centre itself is buried in the trees of the south Snowdonian hills and visitors can see their work in action. The gateway to the centre is via a steep hillside funicular that transports visitors to the summit using the power of water and gravity alone. It’s the first insight we get into the Centre’s mastery of engineering, exploring new ways to generate energy with those basic renewable resources: water, sunlight and wind. The attraction has lots of educational and child-friendly features.

Country Lanes

Without a doubt, the best way to experience the countryside is on foot or by bicycle. Country Lanes has established itself in two of England’s national parks – the Lake District and New Forest – to offer travellers a range of cycling holidays and cycle hire facilities. The best part about it is that you can hop off the train at Windermere (Lake District) or Brockenhurst (New Forest) and pick up your bicycle from the hire centres nearby. In fact, the Brockenhurst outlet is housed in a restored railway carriage next to the station. Both centres have facilities for children with trailers and smaller bicycles. There are themed rides to choose from as well as connections to the Isle of Wight from Brockenhurst so you can cycle to the ferry and island hop.

Ireland Eco Tours

“Leave no trace” is Jerome O'Loughlin’s motto. He works by it, lives by it, drives by it and teaches it. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t like to be noticed. Our kids had spent an hour wailing “I don’t want to go on a bus tour”, until Jerome turned up at our door. The sight of his bright-green minibus, with pictures of hikers and bikers emblazoned on the side, stopped us, and everyone who was passing by, in our tracks. Especially when they noticed the sign: “Powered by vegetable oil”.  This biofuel bus is run on Pure Plant Oil extracted from Irish-grown (and processed) rapeseed. Jerome, the owner of Ireland Eco Tours, is a trained guide, and expert in ecotourism, mountain biking, surfing, hiking, local history, geography and geology. In his mean green machine, he offers guided tours to places of eco-interest in Leitrim, Fermanagh, Sligo, Cavan and Donegal.