The ECO Revolution
The last couple of years since the Covid-19 pandemic started and we went into lockdown, has made people reflect and question their lifestyles. We’re calling it the Environmentally Conscious Opinions of the 21st century. In this blog post, we focus on helping you find an eco-friendly family day out, clean eating, sustainable living and green transport.
Health Conscious
Many more people are a lot more health conscious than ever before. Focusing on both their physical and mental well-being. Yoga classes grew in popularity, as people invested in mindfulness. Locally sourced, sustainable and organic food made a huge come back. All as people took time to research and improve their way of living.
Making the Switch
People had various work done on their homes to be more environmentally friendly and sustainable. They installed solar panels, ground source heat pumps and electric vehicle charging points. Making the switch from conventional power sources.
Exposing Manufacturers
It didn’t stop there either. People woke up to the sheer amount of chemicals going into their personal care products. Nasty toxic chemicals such as phthalates and parabens that we see manufacturers put into shower gels, toothpaste, deodorants and much more, are all being avoided.
Sadly these nasty chemicals affect the body in many ways, such as causing hormonal changes, and allergic reactions. Similarly children’s toys also are made using BPA, an endocrine disruptor that changes the way hormones work! Would you really want your children touching toys containing this chemical, or worse chewing it?
Others looked at ways to prevent chlorine, chemicals and bacteria from contaminating their drinking water. Relying on mains water sometimes isn’t quite enough. Therefore gravity water systems such as Berkey best camping water filters were used on family holidays or placed on counter tops in peoples homes.
The internet went crazy with searches for health conscious alternative purchases. Others decided to go one step further and even make their own products, which for some even turned into a new business venture.
Going One Step Further
The personal interest element expanded and the general public soon turned to the fact more needs to be done to save the planet. So they looked for ways to future proof their children and even their children’s children. More people started recycling than ever before during the pandemic, getting the whole family involved with incentives for children who played their part.
As environmental knowledge grew, people sought out other ways to help ensure a cleaner, greener and healthier environment in which to live.
Going Electric
Taking us to electric vehicles. Did you know the number of electric cars sold to the UK market grew by 186% in 2020? As people realised greenhouse gas emissions fell due to the lack of internal combustion engine (ICE) cars on the roads, during lockdown, many made the switch to electric. At the time of writing this blog post, there are 332,299 pure electric cars on the UK roads. Still a fair way to go but this number is fortunately rising every day.
Sustainable Tourism
Whilst the UK population starts to make changes to their way of living, businesses have upped their game too. For one, you can now enjoy a greener more eco-friendly family day out! That’s right, as the world makes the switch to more of an eco-friendly way of living, visitor attractions are too.
There are many ways to go green and help to save the planet, whilst also having ample family fun. Here’s how!
Green Transport
Each Diggerland UK theme park, located in Durham, Kent and Yorkshire has EV charging points. Free to use for Diggerland patrons and a small fee for those passing by and stopping for a short while.
Green Transport
Each Diggerland UK theme park, located in Durham, Kent and Yorkshire has EV charging points. Free to use for Diggerland patrons and a small fee for those passing by and stopping for a short while.
Electric Car Rental
Diggerland has also partnered with EVision Electric Vehicles, the UK’s first and largest electric vehicle rental company in the UK. A wide range of electric vehicles including cars and vans are available to hire from these Diggerland satellite locations.
You can choose anything such as a Renault ZOE at budget prices. Otherwise perhaps a family sized Kia EV6 for a day’s rental. Plus anything in-between such as the Jaguar I-Pace, VW iD.3 and iD.4, Mercedes EQC and so much more.
For a special occasion, you could hop into something very extravagant such as a Tesla Model X or a Porsche Taycan.
Green Tourist Attractions
When it comes to a sustainable, greener and eco-friendly family day out, a construction themed visitor attraction with diesel chugging diggers probably doesn’t come to mind.
However at Diggerland, you would be surprised at how much our theme parks are greener and cleaner than you might first think.
Solar Power
Diggerland has invested heavily over the last few years in solar technology. Installing solar PV panels on the roofs of all the buildings at each Diggerland site. This is all in aid of reducing the effects of greenhouse gases by producing environmentally friendly energy.
Bio-mass Boilers and Ground Source Heat Pumps
The Diggerland sites all have bio-mass boilers and ground source heat pumps in every building. This provides heat for the premises, as well as generates surplus electricity, which is put back into the grid.
Sustainable Attractions
Many of the rides and drives at Diggerland are electric powered. For the little ones there are electric powered Mini Landrovers, Quad-Bikes and Go-Karts. For slightly older children, there are fully electrified, super nippy Crazy Carts. And for the whole family there are dodgems and electric Tractors to enjoy.
Diggerland is also working with digger manufacturers including JCB and Komatsu to introduce hybrid and fully electric diggers into parks.
Reducing Waste
Our commitment to help save the environment doesn’t stop there though. We also hugely encourage recycling and the reduction of plastic waste. So much so that we encourage our visitors to take with them a drinks bottle to fill up at the free to use water fountain.
Clean Eating
When enjoying a sustainable family friendly day out, you’ll want to enjoy some delicious clean food to fill those tummy’s!
Fortunately, not far from each Diggerland location there are some amazing organic and sustainable restaurants for the whole family to enjoy a tasty lunch or dinner.
Here we’ve found some eateries close to our Diggerland parks. which are known for their careful supplier sourcing, cutting of food waste and reducing plastic waste among various other best practices.
Cafe Nucleus – Rochester
Based in Rochester is the beautiful Cafe Nucleus, which has a piano room upstairs for those wishing to endure a relaxing dining experience. As well as a family scene downstairs and outside heated garden area.
Cafe Nucleus not only serve delicious coffee and mouth-wateringly delicious food, they also help promote and support the works of the Halpern Charity foundation. The whole ethos of the cafe is to support the local Kentish economy, by sourcing local sustainable and environmentally friendly suppliers. In addition, through the use of creative arts they also help vulnerable people in the local area.
In choosing to enjoy breakfast, lunch or dinner at Cafe Nucleus, you will have peace of mind knowing you are supporting local businesses.
Clean Bean – Durham
The Clean Bean restaurant located in Seaham, is situated on the stunning North East Coastline, just a 34 minute drive from the Diggerland Durham park. So if you’re planning an eco-friendly family day out in Durham with a twist, you can combine the two.
The owners of this restaurant focus on multi-cultural flavour, all whilst ensuring the dishes served are healthy and nutritious, with locally-sourced ingredients.
Eat Your Greens – Leeds
Grocery store by day, restaurant by night… Eat Your Greens offers a new take on clean eating. Their ethos is providing no fuss farm food straight to your fork, all whilst using organic produce that’s locally sourced.
There’s no beige food in sight at this eatery, as every dish is as colourful as the rainbow.