Warm hospitality, cool rooms, less plastic: all part of the plan to make the Watermill Green.

The Watermill at Posara is renowned for its inspiring creative courses, its beautiful setting, its delicious food, and its warm and welcoming hospitality. It is also Cool and Green!

We have installed air-conditioning units in all our bedrooms and in the public rooms (the dining room, the sitting room, the studio). They are all powered by our array of photovoltaic cells, installed last summer, which are already making more than enough power to ensure that we are self-sufficient in electricity. We have now produced more than 43,000 kilowatt hours of solar-powered electricity and what’s more, we saved more than 30 tonnes of carbon dioxide production.

You will have to search hard to see our photovoltaic panels, which are on the south-facing roofs of the 19th century mill and on the studio, looking out towards the river.

As part of our greening campaign, we have also taken steps to slash our use of plastic, notably in the plastic water bottles we used to provide for our guests when they went out on location. Lois demonstrates the solution below.

We bought a couple of dozen robust stainless-steel vacuum flasks and mark each one with a number. We loan a flask to each of our guests for their creative week.

Then they fill up from our fancy plumbed-in water-dispensing machine in the communal kitchen. At the touch of a button, it will dispense filtered water, either still or fizzy, either chilled or at ambient temperature. Each week the flasks are sterilised in our dishwasher, for re-use by the incoming guests. It’s just a bit more of a faff than plucking a plastic bottle from the fridge. But we reckon it’s worth the (slight) effort. We hope you agree!

To enjoy our other environmental efforts, you won’t have to lift a finger! Just lean back in your chair on the vine verandah and contemplate the fact that we are surrounded by two environmentally protected areas: the National Park of the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines and the Regional Park of the Apuan Alps. The air and the water are pure and unpolluted, and the area abounds in wildlife.