How Seriously Do Luxury Hotels Take Sustainability? Inside Ballyfin, Ireland

How important is sustainability to luxury hotels? Do they really care? Fiona Duncan checks in at one, Ballyfin in Ireland, to find out.

Hotel Review: Ballyfin, Ireland

As shown by our annual Sustainable Hotel of the Year awards, Country & Town House is leading the way in celebrating places to stay that offer a more balanced, natural, inclusive and planet-friendly style of hospitality than in the past while still giving guests a great experience, full of joie de vivre. This year, in conjunction with the publication of our 11^th Great British and Irish Hotels Guide, we gave the award to the richly deserving Pig Hotels, but there are many others that are quietly and genuinely on a journey to sustainability, and the more I stay in hotels these days, even very luxurious and expensive ones, the more I see commitment to change.

Take Relais & Châteaux, a heritage brand comprising 580 independent hotels and restaurants about to celebrate 70 years since its inception. Led by its President Laurent Gardinier, the association is determined to accelerate change across its membership, with an annual Sustainability Report marking progress or otherwise and, this year, the creation of a Sustainability Commission, with members hand-picked by Laurent Gardinier to push forward the action plan. The association has set itself 15 core objectives that cover three main areas: environmental conservation and the fight against global warming; sustainable cuisine; and environmental and societal empowerment.

Music to our ears. The latest report shows that members have maintained their position or recorded progress in 12 of their 15 core objectives. Members are fiercely proud of being part of Relais & Châteaux and it’s immensely helpful that the push for improvement is coming from the association itself, so that all 580 properties can work in tandem towards a common goal.

It’s quite an ask, especially as Relais hotels are all at the luxury end of the spectrum, mostly set in heritage buildings and catering for a clientele – some at any rate – who prefer their whims addressed at any cost rather than their planet saved. I headed to Ireland to visit a jewel in the Relais & Châteaux crown, Ballyfin, to see how seriously the hotel is taking the association’s initiative and – let’s not forget the first purpose of a Relais & Chateaux or any other special hotel – to indulge in a few days of spoiling fun and gracious good living.

In front of the giant portico of the Regency house, one of Ireland’s finest, a Downton-esque knot of staff, neatly uniformed, awaits each arriving guest like a little flock of blackbirds, and sets the tone for a hotel, filled with treasures, that mixes Irish warmth and old-school service with every comfort you could wish for. Saved from dereliction by Chicago electronics billionaire Fred Kriebel and his Irish wife Kay 20 years ago, it remains the pride of his family. His faithful restoration of the 614-acre demesne and of the opulent house with its glorious plasterwork and exquisite marquetry allow a sense of perspective and timelessness that lends itself to a natural and sustainable way of life, more in step with the one that the Coote family, who built the house, would have known, than with modern life. One naturally puts away one’s mobile at Ballyfin.

‘We are grateful for the steer from Relais,’ says General Manager Peter White. ‘There’s always more to do, of course, but we are well on the road, since many of the initiatives have been in place since we opened. All our water is from our own wells; we have a state-of-the-art treatment plant so that all the waste water that goes into our lake is clean; we do burn oil, but our boilers are modern and efficient – of course we’ll go to biomass when it’s time to upgrade them.’

Ballyfin’s most ambitious initiative is its recently implemented forestry management programme. Thousands of native broadleaf trees will be planted on the estate, while the existing conifer plantation, neither native nor carbon efficient nor good for the soil, will also be replaced by oak, beech and other native trees. ‘It’s a legacy for generations to come,’ says Peter.

Ballyfin’s beehives make the most delicious honey and honeycomb, for sale at the hotel. Its wildflower meadow is sown only with seeds found in County Laoise and its apple orchards produce up to 1.200 bottles of apple juice, served at breakfast, a year. There are plans for heritage livestock such as Kerry cattle and for craft workshops: a resident artist, glassblowing, upholstery. ‘There’s nothing more sustainable than the restoration of a piece of antique furniture that has been used and loved for decades, even centuries,’ says Peter. ‘Here at Ballyfin we are far more interested in furniture that’s old than stain-resistant or fire-proof or any of that.’

No stay at Ballyfin is complete without a ride in loquacious, twinkle-eyed Lionel’s pony and trap, nor without a garden tour with passionate, committed head gardener Kayleigh Keenan. She works closely with head chef Richard Picard-Edwards whose dishes look and taste just what they are: from the garden. No less than eight acres of vegetables supply the kitchen (there are just 20 bedrooms at Ballyfin and the restaurant is for residents only); if there’s a surplus the staff can take it home and the local greengrocer will swap what’s not wanted with produce that the kitchen needs. Kayleigh works with eight full time gardeners, one of whom, Pat, has been at Ballyfin for 43 years, starting in the days when it was a school, run by the Patrician brothers.

It’s hard to tear oneself away from Ballyfin. Yes, it’s magnificent, grand, dripping in luxury, but it also has a rhythm, a grounded approach and a sense of the natural that makes its journey to sustainability a clear cut one. There are seven other Relais & Châteaux properties in Ireland… I wonder how they are faring. Certainly, the guidance and goals they are being given will help.

Doubles from £695, including breakfast. ballyfin.com