Saving money while helping save the planet is an ideal many businesses strive towards.
But for The Yan at Broadrayne, near Grasmere, sustainability and being environmentally conscious is more than just a goal – it’s a key part of the business and its operating strategy.
Run by three generations of family, the Lake District bistro and hotel has grown its sustainability initiatives over the years alongside its rise in popularity.
From tackling food waste head on to using renewable electricity, a biomass boiler, providing eco-friendly staff accommodation, and more, The Yan at Broadrayne has become a shining star of sustainable hospitality.
Jess and her chef husband Will Manley have been running the show at The Yan since 2019, when a wine-fuelled conversation led to the pair deciding to take over control of the business from Jess’ parents, Sally and Dave Keighley.
Jess said: “My mum and dad purchased Broadrayne farm in 2012. It was made up of three holiday cottages and an independent hostel and wasn’t a working farm at that point anymore.
“They took it on as a retirement project, which is laughable now considering how much work it has been since that point. But they kept adding things like the glamping pods in 2016 which were the first in the area and they also started up our sustainability initiatives, which included setting up things like our biomass boiler.
“The previous owners sold the farm to mum and dad to fund the hydroelectricity plant behind us, Tongue Gill Hydro, and when they were running the farm itself they had a great green ethos.
“So my mum and dad adapted that and they were quick to jump on sustainability grants and schemes available at the time and that mentality is now in everything we do.
“We’re surrounded by such a beautiful landscape and tourism isn’t necessarily the most sustainable business to be in. It’s definitely our responsibility to take that and make ourselves as sustainable as we can so people can enjoy the Lakes in a more sustainable way.”
Jess and Will originally launched The Yan as a restaurant for guests staying at one of the hotel’s seven bedrooms, four holiday cottages and two glamping pods.
But after a surprise visit from acclaimed food critic Grace Dent just two months after opening – the bistro opened its doors to the wider public by popular demand.
Jess said: “When Grace Dent visited that just blew us out of the water. It shot us into something we just weren’t expecting and the bistro became a place not just for our guests.
“It was amazing, we still have a following from that review and we had an amazing first six months, but then COVID hit.”
Like many hospitality businesses, Jess said The Yan suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic – but that it also brought forward new sustainability ideas.
She added: “It kicked us back down to reality. We were in a really difficult position because we were such a new business and we weren’t liable for a lot of the help.
“But during that time we did takeaways, had a drive through and we were posting out shepherd’s pies all over the country and we did that on the weekly. It kept us going and kept money coming in that was enough to pay the bills.
“We then reopened in July 2020 with conditions in place and with a pre-ordering only idea. So we had every guest that came in for dinner pre-ordering their food, making it so we only ordered in the food we needed reducing the cost and it was probably the only reason we got through the summer.
“After that year we moved away from the pre-ordering system as people weren’t interested in those kinds of things and were looking for normality.
“But after the second lockdown, I did a lot of work with the University of Cumbria and Eco Eye North West that were doing grant schemes at the time for sustainability initiatives.
“We talked through data from the summer of pre-ordering and the year following that when we ran a normal summer, and then we put the data together to see the impact on food waste.
“It was an incredible piece of data to have and the university students we had come down ran the numbers and went through the bins and it was really great, as it was something we wouldn’t have had the time or money to do ourselves.
“But we’ve continued to build on that since and we’ve been encouraging people to pre-order more. So for example, on Easter Sunday this year, every guest pre-ordered and because of that we could increase our covers.
“Around 30 per cent more guests came because because we had space for everything and knew what we were making.
“We’ve found a lot of these things we are doing sustainably go hand-in-hand with being really good for our business and also being great for the planet.”
Alongside their initiatives around food waste, the family also support and work with local suppliers to lower food miles, offer a carbon-calculated menu, grow their own fruit and veg, keep ducks and chickens for eggs and return food packaging they can’t reuse to their suppliers.
The meat on offer as well as the beer and several gins and vodkas are all also sourced from within the county and all food waste is composted and cooking oil cleaned, returned and reused.
The buildings on site are all also built to be as eco-friendly and sustainable as possible – with several water saving features in place alongside the avoidance of using coal fires, upholding biodiversity in the gardens and the use of solar power, hydroelectricity and energy-saving appliances.
In June 2022 Jess’ sister Georgina and her husband Peter Keighley-King joined the team – both of whom formerly worked at Lake Road Kitchen in Ambleside as head chef and restaurant manager.
Now they have a team of 14 – Jess said figuring out ways to employ and retain staff in the Lake District has been a challenge.
She said: “We’ve been struggling with staffing in general with us being in the Lake District where it’s difficult for people to find accommodation.
“So last year we made a commitment to create some new, on-site staff accommodation to try and remedy that problem.
“We worked with a company called Lune Valley Pods based out of Heysham and we now have four self-contained solar powered studio apartments on the farm.
“They have great views and it gives staff their own space when they’ve finished work. Working in hospitality is hard, so you really need that time and space to recuperate.
“We were in a difficult place last year but this has really helped with recruitment. It’s exciting having staff who are on board with our sustainability ethos too, the input on how we do these things is all very much so a team effort.”
Jess and the rest of her family involved with The Yan now all also live on the farm.
She said: “I think if you had told us all 10 years ago that we would be here we would have laughed at you.
“But it has become apparent that we all have a super strong skill set within the industry with my mum and dad in corporate, myself front of house, Will as chef, Georgina as chef and HR and Pete with his restaurant manager wine knowledge.
“Being able to do it together is great and it feels like it really secures the business for ourselves because we really care about it and we are always looking to improve, adapt and move forward.
“We do like to try and give off that family-run atmosphere. We want guests to feel like they’re coming home, everything is very casual, individual and relaxed here.
“We didn’t want to feel like a stuffy country house hotel, so when people are here they get a great bed, some great food and great wine and they can come straight in off the fells, wearing whatever they want and just enjoy it as they are.”
The Yan at Broadrayne’s sustainability have also scooped the family several awards and nominations.
Jess said: “We were most named recently as a finalist in the VisitEngland awards after we won the Cumbria Tourism award for sustainability last year.
“We’re in the top three in that category which is just amazing because we’re up against some good contenders and we’re just overjoyed to be nominated. To be one of the top three business in the country for sustainability is a really great feeling.
“Last year we did decide to go for more awards as a way of shouting about what we do here more.
“We want to try and encourage other people to do what we do, especially as sustainability can seem like a huge task to bend your head around.
“But it’s really about starting in little places with things you can manage and suddenly a few projects later you’re in a better place overall.”
