Navigating what’s green — and what’s not — when it comes to choosing what we’re dishing up, decorating with or deciding to live alongside is like traversing a trip wire, as businesses seek to burnish their 21st-century credentials. Fortunately, among the buzzwords and vague commitments ready to catch you out are companies where making the planet a priority is part of the mindset.
Here’s our pick of the brands that are not merely plastering over the unsustainable cracks or adding a tiny green footnote to proceedings, but instead making sustainable practice the bedrock of their business and part of their identity for a greener future.
Homes
Blake & Bull
Blake & Bull offers customers a choice of 65 colours with which to re-enamel their Aga. Its Aga refurbishment service—cookers are deep cleaned; doors, lid liners and other small parts replaced—helps to save carbon, energy and waste, as well as improving efficiency. Those with deeper pockets can get their cooker converted to electric, saving money in the long run and reducing emissions. www.blakeandbull.co.uk
Edward Bulmer
Edward Bulmer produces paints made from plant-based alternatives (paint is typically made with plastic binders, azo dyes and chemicals). The brainchild of interior designer and environmental campaigner Edward Bulmer, the technicolour range is made using only 12 natural earth and mineral pigments used by artists for centuries. www.edwardbulmerpaint.co.uk
The Wrought Iron and Brass Bed Co
When Amanda Thompson couldn’t find a good-quality bed for her children more than 20 years ago, she designed her own. Her decision spawned The Wrought Iron and Brass Bed Co, which uses raw materials nearly all sourced from Britain. Its products are made on the Sandringham estate in Norfolk and the company as a whole is carbon neutral; the workshop is powered with 100% renewable energy. www.wroughtironandbrassbed.co.uk
Gaze Burvill
Outdoor-furniture and kitchen specialist Gaze Burvill has been selling its wares from Hampshire for more than 30 years. The company uses wood from sustainably managed forests, the timber being chosen carefully for the correct grade and cut to minimise waste and for maximum longevity. www.gazeburvill.com
Spark & Bell
Spark & Bell handmakes all its lighting products in the UK and offers an in-house repair service, as well as taking back lights that have reached the end of their life to repurpose into new ones. The shipping is carbon neutral. www.sparkandbell.com
Porta Romana
Porta Romana’s Upcycling Club offers customers full-scale restoration of their favourite Porta Romana homeware pieces and it has its own LED lightbulb range, designed in partnership with Tala Bulbs —plus, 80% of its products are made by British craftspeople. www.portaromana.com
Real Wild Estates
Whether you’re a farmer, landowner or portfolio land manager, Real Wild Estates helps strategise, monetise and implement ambitious biodiversity-restoration programmes, balancing Nature recovery with business viability. www.realwildestates.com
Urquhart Hunt
Landscape designers Adam Hunt and Lulu Urquhart are ecological restorationists who use native plants to improve biodiversity. Their debut exhibit at RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2022, A Rewilding Britain Landscape, won a Gold medal and, with Suzi Martineau, they set up The Tree Conference—an annual event to understand the true value of trees. www.urquharthunt.com
Food and drink
The Ethical Dairy
Keeping calves with their mothers for up to six months is a priority for David and Wilma Finlay at their dairy farm in the Galloway Hills, where the organic milk is used to make a range of traditional cheeses. www.theethicaldairy.co.uk
Alara
Alara’s mueslis, bircher and porridge oats, seeds and granolas are produced using 100% renewable energy and sold in home-compostable packaging. The zero-waste company was instrumental in establishing the Organic Arable Group. www.alara.co.uk
Fallow
With mushrooms raised on site, vegetables grown on its own smallholding in Esher and a menu that includes aged dairy cow, fallow-deer burger and cod’s head, this central-London restaurant has made sustainable eating cool. Founded in 2019 and confirmed in its permanant St James’s home in 2021, Fallow has already won awards for its food and nose-to-tail, root-to-stem ethos. www.fallowrestaurant.com
Rubies in the Rubble
Rubies in the Rubble uses surplus ingredients—that would otherwise be wasted—to make tasty condiments. Think knobbly fruit and vegetables, rejected by supermarkets, transformed into ketchup or mayonnaise made with aquafaba (nutrient-rich chickpea water). www.rubiesintherubble.com
Whittington Lodge Farm
At the 700-acre Whittington Lodge Farm in Gloucestershire, 100% grass-fed cows graze on wildflower meadows with thriving insect, lapwing and skylark populations. The farm uses a mob-grazing technique, whereby cows are moved onto new pastures every day. This ensures the grasses left behind develop longer roots, which, in turn, helps lock carbon into the ground. The beef — including bone broth and steak boxes — is sold online. www.cotswoldbeef.com
Totally Wild Food
Founder James Wood organises cooking classes and foraging workshops across the country that teach participants how to make the most of truly wild food. He also supplies fruit- and vegetable-box producer Abel & Cole with wild-foraged sea spinach, three-cornered leeks and much more. totallywilduk.co.uk
Black Isle Brewery
Black Isle Brewery produces beer made from barley and hops grown in the Highlands, supporting organic farmers and growers. Since David Gladwin founded the business, 26 years ago, he’s planted more than 7,000 native broadleaf trees on the farmland surrounding the brewery, reinstated hedgerows and dug much-needed ponds. www.blackislebrewery.com
The Garlic Farm
An organic, third-generation family garlic farm on the Isle of Wight, The Garlic Farm, a certified B-Corp organisation, experiments with garlic in all its guises, however surprising — from mayonnaise and chutneys to black-garlic beer and ice cream. The emphasis is on using farming practices that leave the land in a better condition than they found it. www.thegarlicfarm.co.uk
Lifestyle
Smol
smol’s selection of laundry capsules, dishwasher tablets, multi-purpose surface spray and more work as well as big brands, but uses far fewer harsh chemicals. Everything comes in compostable, recyclable or refillable packaging — delivered free to your front door — and is vegan friendly. www.smolproducts.com
Stay Wild Swim
Stay Wild Swim manufactures its swimwear out of Econyl yarn, 100% regenerated-nylon fibre fabric made from discarded waste, such as fishing nets, fabric scraps and old carpets. Its small London factory exceeds industry ethical working standards, boasts a zero-waste approach to production and ships finished garments out in biodegradable packaging. www.staywildswim.com
The Deck
The Deck — a tailoring house for women — is Savile Row’s first B-Corp business. It’s an anti-dote to throwaway fashion: made-to-order suits in natural materials designed to last, cut to avoid textile waste and over-production. Founder Daisy Knatchbull designs everything, from boyfriend blazers to power suits. www.thedecklondon.com
Petalon
Florence and James Kennedy own 85 acres of Cornish land, half of which is put aside for growing seasonal flowers, using no-dig practices. The other half is left alone for wildlife. The Kennedys’ Petalon flower-delivery service started in 2014, in east London, before they relocated to the West Country six years later, and 100% of end-of-year profits are donated to UK conservation projects. www.petalon.co.uk
&Daughter
&Daughter creates knitwear designed to treasure — with a mending service that can de-bobble, wash, steam and press. Inspired by her Irish grandmother, who was a keen knitter, and working with her father, who began his career selling Donegal tweeds and Arans, founder Buffy Reid uses yarns that are 100% natural and spun in the UK and Ireland. She works with only five yarns and five makers, so the supply chain is small and as environmentally friendly as possible. www.and-daughter.com
Travel
The Brando, French Polynesia
Criss-crossing the globe to get here comes with its own carbon footprint (although the hotel is within touching distance of ensuring every guest enjoys a carbon-neutral stay), but no other hotel in the world can claim to be as green as The Brando, where the buildings are cooled using a state-of-the-art seawater air-conditioning system. www.thebrando.com
Stay Beyond Green
This group presents a curated collection of the world’s greenest hotels — all of which must pass a rigorous vetting process, based on globally recognised sustainable tourism standards and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. www.staybeyondgreen.com
Singita
The story of Singita started more than a century ago, when the grandfather of founder Luke Bailes purchased a 30,000-acre plot of former hunting land in South Africa and turned it into a conservation reserve — now Singita Sabi Sand. Today, its lodges, reserves and camps form and help fund important projects across Africa, including the empowerment of local communities. www.singita.com
Restaurants
Wilson’s, Bristol
This independently owned and operated bistro boasts its own two-acre market garden, where most of the vegetables, herbs and flowers on the menu are grown. Other ingredients are sourced from small-scale, regenerative farmers and producers in the local area. www.wilsonsbristol.co.uk
Silo, Hackney Wick, London E9
Silo is a proud zero-waste restaurant — even the furniture and fittings have been upcycled using materials that would have otherwise been wasted. It also has its own flour mill that turns ancient varieties of wheat into flour using traditional methods. www.silolondon.com
FIELD by Fortnum’s, 181 Piccadilly, London W1
Fortnum & Mason’s newest restaurant serves up seasonal, majority plant-based food, sourced from small-scale suppliers (most are UK-based including greens from hydroponic farms in London). The interiors have been decked out in repurposed furniture, crockery, glassware and packaging from the wider Fortnum’s business. www.fortnumandmason.com
Tillingham, Peasmarsh, East Sussex
This multi-purpose vineyard-cum-working farm-cum restaurant with rooms was awarded a Green Star in the 2023 Michelin Guide. The Garden Menu showcases produce from the venue’s own walled garden, surrounding farms and fish caught daily off Rye Harbour. www.tillingham.com
Angela’s, Margate, Kent
This understated bijou bistro sticks to a concise menu, scribbled out on a blackboard and eaten off recycled plastic tables. Sustainable day-caught fish is bought from one supplier — Tom, the youngest boat owner in Ramsgate’s fishing fleet — and vegetables from two acres of exclusive land at Nonington Farms. www.angelasofmargate.com
Inver, Strachur, Scotland
This former crofter’s cottage and boat store doesn’t shout about its sustainable credentials, but it has an unwavering commitment to local and foraged ingredients and clutch of beautiful bedrooms to boot. www.inverrestaurant.co.uk
Photography: Ian Boyd; Phil Wilkinson; Mark Wood; Alamy; Clive Nichols; India Hobson/Haarkon
60 simple sustainability tips to make your home, garden and life better
We spoke to experts to get their tips on practical steps we can all make to live a more sustainable
Is it ever okay to put ice in your wine? How can you fix a broken friendship? And which cutlery do you use for fish? — Country Life's agony aunt Mrs Hudson tells all
-
Vertigo at Victoria Falls, a sunset surrounded by lions and swimming in the Nile: A journey from Cape Town to CairoWhy do we travel and who inspires us to do so? Chris Wallace went in search of answers on his own epic journey the length of Africa.
-
A gorgeous Scottish cottage with contemporary interiors on the bonny banks of the River TayCarnliath on the edge of Strathtay is a delightful family home set in sensational scenery.
-
In Focus: A sculptor creating 21st century art from the detritus of 20th century lifeYou're more likely to find artist James Wild hunting through a scrapyard than to find him among the normal haunts of artists, as he seeks materials and inspiration for his work. Lilias Wigan reports.
-
The five best electric cars you can buy today, no matter what you needIt doesn't matter if you need a sporty car, a city hatchback or a load-lugger with room for all the family — electric cars area already here in all shapes and sizes. Charles Rangeley-Wilson picks his favourites.
