A Craven hotel - recently crowned the Good Hotel Guide country hotel of the year - has won another honour.

The Traddock, in Austwick, has become the fourth hotel in the county to receive top marks for its green credentials, with a gold award from the nationwide Green Tourism scheme.

It scored highly for its wood pellet-fuelled heating system, a locally-sourced slow food-inspired menu, extensive herb and wildlife gardens, a move to greener cleaning products and the use of low energy lighting.

Assessors were also impressed that many breakfast and dinner items are made on site, including bread, jams, fruit compotes, yoghurt, cereals, biscuits and cakes.

The Reynolds family bought The Traddock in 2002 and are keen environmentalists who apply their principles to every aspect of the business.

Sabrina Gibson, the hotel’s green officer said: “Keeping food miles as low as possible is very important to The Traddock.

“Our rare breed pork travels just six miles from the Blue Pig Company in Long Preston. Beef, lamb and milk are on the road for less than 16 miles from Mansergh Hall and Brades Farm Dairy.

“Potatoes are from Clapham Community Cooperative, 1.5 miles from the hotel, and venison is sourced from Holme Farmed Venison, in Sherburnin Elmet, 60 miles away.”

Whilst committed to improving environmental standards even further, general manager Paul Reynolds admits that “greening up” the 12-room grade two listed Georgian country house has not been without its expenses.

“We’ve invested £44,000 in a low carbon biomass boiler which burns wood pellets. Although it was a large upfront cost, we received a government subsidy through the Renewable Heat Incentive and expect to reduce our energy costs by around £12,000 a year.

“Again, with lighting, each LED bulb costs us £9, with around 290 needed to illuminate the hotel. But as they last up to 100 times longer than a traditional bulb, we are saving time and money as well as energy. I used to be up a ladder changing bulbs every few days and I can’t remember the last time I had to now.”

Simon Dodds, Green Tourism assessor, said: “The Traddock is to be congratulated for the significant effort made by Sabrina and Paul to reach Green Tourism gold award status.”

As a gold award holder, The Traddock will now act as an advocate for sustainable and environmental business, hosting open days for other interested businesses twice a year.