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When we decided to rent I did have my concerns regarding how healthy and environmentally friendly the home we rented would be!

Our choice of properties turned out to be limited to one in Dawlish, a four bedroom family home laid out for very family friendly living but very un environmentally friendly and we soon discovered it had more than its fair share of maintainance problems.

With the more serious maintainence issue ( like the leaks and electrics) sorted, we set out to improve our new homes environmental credentials:-

• We got our OWL electrical energy uses monitor up and working - thank goodness for our own  A+ rated white goods
• Fitted low energy bulbs through out, we even found some energy saving bulbs for the old fashioned large spot lights
• Created a compost heap for garden waste and made good use of it  – the garden was very wild and full of wildlife which we continued to encourage
• We gardened organically
• Made very good use of Teignbridge Council’s door step recycling service for a wide range of waste and recycled other things locally art the recycling centres and charity shops
• Used the wonderful large south facing windows for solar gain, solar battery charging and solio charging
• As soon as the weather warmed up a bit we planted courgettes, tomatoes and squash seeds from Tamar Organics to complement the herbs we had brought with us
• We used public transport for work, lesiure and shopping – mainly the train but sometimes bus
• And as the house ate gas and was freezing due to many large north facing windows and had no insulation in the loft, we investigated free insulation through the Cosy Devon scheme

By now though alarm bells had started ringing very loud as the rental company refused to maintain the property or were very slow sorting out safety issues, they didn’t take up the free insulation and then we discovered they had been lying to us!!!

We did really enjoy the garden and all the wildlife, Dawlish beach, seeing the water foul and their young on on Dawlish water and exploring various locations along the coastal path though, as well as getting together with our new home education friends.

So we had to find a new home to rent very quickly and again there was a total lack of choice, but eventually found one in Livermead, Torquay.

And this house is lovely, a little smaller but with wonderful views towards Torquay and Berryhead and its own environmental features and challenges.

• A great family area which is south west facing, so gets lots of sunshine and had good thermal mass (and only a couple of very small north facing windows thank goodness!)
• An Aga – so we are learning to cook in a new way and making lots of lifestyle changes to make the most of the stored heat and enjoying it
• The house has mainly modern spot lights, so we’ll be looking at energy saving options for these
• The house has its own white goods and we’re not sure about the ratings – so we’ll be watching our OWL electrical energy uses monitor carefully
• We have three water butts which will be great for watering the garden when needed – the rain has been fairly torrential recently though!
• We’re making good use of Torbay Council’s door step recycling, which is undergoing massive changes and improvements – with weekly collections of waste for recycling and using the local charity shops
• We’ll be getting a compost bin (one thats easy to rotate), gardening organically and looking at ways to make the garden more wildlife friendly without changing its character.
• And we’ve got Cockington on our doorstep – for wonderful woodland walks, great events through the Torbay Coast and Countryside Trust and so much more, as well as Occombe Organic farm just a short bus ride away
• And again we’ll be using public transport for work, shopping and lesiure – probably more buses this time as they provide access to more local locations

So plenty to keep us busy, lots more coast line to explore and we live even closer to some of our Devon home education friends

In a recent email from Friends of the Earth I discovered Seat61
This is the most exciting website I have found in years all about travelling by train and ship.

I love travelling and holidays and this website is a wealth of information on train travel all around the world – it’s amazing at a first glance.

We’ll definitely be using it to plan a family holiday to Switzerland

Yesterday we went to the Dojo Eco shop in Manchester, to see and order an organic and natural double mattress and accessories.  Our friend’s have one of the mattresses already and they are great.

We travelled by public transport as usual – train, free city shuttle bus and then a short walk – it’s out of the centre in a more industrial area.

The shop was amazing; lots of wonderful eco products – even more than they have on the website it seemed.

We ordered the Firm/Springy double mattress (£495 – cheapest organic one we’ve found), a cotton mattress pad (£100 – I love my comfort) and two millet husk pillows (£27 each) – all of which we were able to try out first at the shop.

The mattresses are made of organic British wool, organic cotton, natural latex and coconut fibre.  They are made to order in Manchester (ours is even been made to measure at no extra cost) and are delivered in approximately two weeks which is great.

We left a deposit and the balance is due when they ring to organise delivery, which is very fair.

We also bought a selection of FSC wooden brushes with plant fibresbristles (£1.25 to £6.50) , an organic cotton duck soft a toy for our friend’s new baby, an Onya Back Bag (£10 – alternative to plastic backpack),  a ball of natural jute twine (£3.75) and a wooden juicer (£3.50) …..and we could have bought so much more.

There was lots of great eco toys, organic fabrics, organic and eco household furnishings and eco garden products – the list goes on and on………

We also visited the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry, which is free except for special exhibitions and was enjoyed by all the family.