Sustainability Ethos
Sustainability underpins everything we do
Michelin Guide 2022 awarded Moor Hall restaurant with rooms a Green Star accolade, which recognises the practises that we have put in place across the property to ensure the conservation of resources, where possible.
We are immensely passionate about excellent, fresh, well-sourced produce, and as a result as many ingredients as possible are grown within Moor Hall’s five-acre landscape, harvested daily for use in the kitchens of our restaurants.
Items we cannot grow ourselves are sourced locally from the West Lancashire region wherever possible, and as a result of these efforts, any food miles travelled are incredibly low.
All of our meat is reared in the North West and we only use sustainable fish from the UK. 100% of our fish are from day boats. All our suppliers have full traceability and so we know exactly where our produce comes from and how it’s sourced.
We take great care not to waste any food on-site, and anything we can’t repurpose is funnelled back into compost either in the garden or on a national scale (more on our organic farming methods below). We aim to extend the life of most of our produce, be it drying flowers or fermenting green tomatoes. We also try to maximise anything we buy in, for example we may use lobster tails at Moor Hall and then the claws at The Barn.
Organic farming methods
We employ organic farming methods only, based on ‘no dig’ – meaning we don’t dig the beds which improves soil health and reduces weeds. By avoiding digging we don’t disrupt the soil life – the important micro-organisms, fungi and worms, that help feed plant roots.
No chemicals are applied to the crops at Moor Hall. We use biological control, like ladybird and lace wing larvae to reduce greenfly, or netting carrots and brassicas to keep off root fly and cabbage white butterflies.
We work with nature rather than against it, encouraging wildlife such as hedgehogs to help reduce the slug population. We have four beehives to help with pollination and are looking to increase our wildflower meadow to support bee conservation.
We funnel as much kitchen and garden waste as possible back into the garden for homegrown compost, yielding around two tonnes every 6-10 weeks season dependent. Purchasing of additional compost is minimal and always peat-free. Surplus waste is managed by ReFood, the UK’s only fully integrated food chain recycler, ensuring all food waste is repurposed as crop fertiliser – like we do at Moor Hall, on a nationwide scale.
Grow your own
We are completely self-sufficient with regards to sourcing micro herbs and baby vegetables, with around ten different micro herbs grown at any one time depending on the season, such as celery, anise hyssop, fennel and baby carrots.
All edible flowers are grown on-site too, such as cornflowers, violas, primulas, calendula, marigold and borage flowers, as well as additional garnishes such as oxalis, wood sorrel, buckler sorrel and nasturtium.
During the summer, our gardens turn an impressive crop, growing the likes of peas, broad beans, French beans, runner beans, courgettes, cucumbers, beetroot, turnip, carrot, fennel, agretti, crosnes, wild strawberries, raspberries, heritage apples & pears, peaches, plums, medler, quince, artichokes, cabbages, kales, leeks, New Zealand spinach and baby red onions.
We also cure our own meats for our charcuterie, and in our dairy we produce cheese, butter and yogurt using raw milk from a small, local herd of Holstein Friesian.
Other sustainable business initiatives
// Dedicated ‘sustainable champions’ across the business who ensure we consider the environment; the wellbeing and needs of our staff, guests and suppliers; as well as the local economy, in our business operations
// Porsche electric vehicle charging points – Lancashire’s first
// Zero tolerance on single-use plastic for food storage in the kitchen
// All suppliers instructed to move to recyclable or reusable packaging where possible
// Our water filtration system gives us a premium product without stocking bottled water
Sustainable suppliers
We work with suppliers whose ethos is similar to ours and this goes beyond the kitchen.
We use Wild Farmed for our flour. Echoing our own farming methods, they use simple regenerative practices and work with nature to cultivate high-quality grains without chemicals. By 2030 the Wildfarmed system will be taking as much CO2 out of the atmosphere as a 100-year-old rainforest the size of Greater London.
We only use British sustainable flowers on-site for decoration, either cut flowers homegrown at Moor Hall, or sourced from sustainable florist and grower, Petal & Twig, based in Tarleton. Petal & Twig are members of Flowers from the Farm, the national not-for-profit network supporting small scale British Flower growers, and like us they are passionate about promoting seasonal, British and locally grown flowers.
Our bathroom products are provided by Pure Lakes, handmade with only the finest, high quality natural ingredients and packaged minimally using environmentally friendly materials. All Pure Lakes ingredients are naturally derived and always from a traceable and sustainable source, with preference given to Fair Trade and small co-operatives.
Repurposed materials
During Moor Hall’s extensive renovation, as many original features as possible were retained, and where possible, materials were repurposed.
Sandstone from the building features in our crockery, taken when Moor Hall was a mere building site.
16th century oak beams from the original barn on-site were also repurposed, used in the garden’s pergola which was crafted by a local joiner. The beams were also used to clad the corridor downstairs in The Barn, and to create tableside wooden pegs to house the meat blade during your main course at Moor Hall.
Our nominated charity
We support Sandy Park Café, a local not-for-profit social enterprise helping young students with special needs & disabilities (SEND) from Sandfield Park School in Liverpool to gain valuable work experience. Nationally, only 6% of SEND pupils gain paid employment, something we are striving to change. To date, we have raised over £18,000 for the charity, and we will host students on educational visits throughout the year, offering first-hand experience in the kitchen. We also prepare dishes to serve at the café and support with menu development.