And the winners are… our local wildlife!


Hedgehog being held whilst wrapped in a towel

Anyone who knows the team here at Bosinver or who has ever visited us knows how much our
little oasis of peace centres around a love of nature and wildlife. Our cottages are set in 30 acres
of peaceful wildflower meadowsย and when guests come here, itโ€™s an opportunity to reconnect
with nature.

And so we are absolutely thrilled that we have recently won the Gold Award at the Cornwall
Tourism Awards for being the most Wildlife Friendly Business!

 

Photo of owner Paul and daughter Jasmine hunting for bugs in a meadow at Bosinver

 

Our whole ethos is about supporting a sustainable habitat for us and the wildlife we have a duty
to protect. That is why we manage our land organically for wildlife and focus on reconnecting our
guests with nature. We encouraging everyone to explore the variety of habitats we have here โ€“
wildflower meadows, woodland, hedgerows, lake and ponds.

 

A photo of our pollenator garden at Bosinver

 

Our team are already exceptionally engaged with wildlife – our manager Paul has many years of
experience working for the Environment Agency and we all love sharing our knowledge about
Cornwallโ€™s wildlife with our guests. We tell them what they might see on-site and encourage them
to let us know what they spot, which is then recorded in a wildlife diary in reception. Our aim is to
inspire wonder at nature and to encourage our guests and visitors toย take action to help wildlife
thrive.

One of the wildlife information boards we have at Bosinver

 

Our youngest guests love our woodland nature trails and everyone learns something from our
colourful habitat interpretation panels and the new Tevi funded Habitat Hunt trail for older
children.

We also give out birdfeeders for guests to enjoy watching birds from the comfort of their
cottages and sunflower seedlings to take home so that young guests can nurture them in their
own gardens and let us know how high they grow.

 

Our resident ducks walking around the grounds at Bosinver

 

โ€œThe Cornwall Tourism Gold Award for being Wildlife Friendly means such a lot to us,โ€ says Paul Smith, who runs Bosinver along with parents Pat and Dave.

โ€œThis is very much a family business and everyone here at Bosinver cares about the environment and the natural world. Helping others to develop a deep and abiding love of nature is at the heart of everything we do here and itโ€™s incredibly rewarding to win an award such as this which shows weโ€™re getting it right. Weโ€™d like to thank everyone involved in the awards and our amazing team, and our guests, who do so much to support our efforts and make a difference in
their own lives.โ€

For anyone whoโ€™d like a little more information, here are some of the things we do here at
Bosinver to support wildlife. If you have any more ideas or suggestions, we would love to
hear from you.

โ— We manage our landย for wildlife in line withย our Wildlife Management Plan, developed with
Cornwall Wildlife Trust and a localย ecologist, including sowing meadows with red bartsia and
yellow rattle to help diversify the grassland,ย digging new scrapes and opening up ponds.

โ— Our land management has resulted in more orchids in our wildflower meadows and we
encourage guests to look for them and let us know where they spot them.

โ— We secured Tevi project funding for two projects to enhance our existing wildlife habitats to
support greater numbers/more diverse wildlife and to demonstrate to our guestsย practical ways
that everyone can help nature.

These included:
– Installing wildlife cameras to detect and film on-site animals and show the footage on our
website.- Installing a variety of bird and bat boxes to use with the wildlife cameras.
– Buying an on-site moth trapping and bat detector kit to use
– Building a wildlife pollinator garden – a heart-shaped bed specifically full of pollinator plants as a
focal point for visitors to demonstrate the need for increasing planting for pollinators. We have developed a map and handout to give guests some ideas for what they can do themselves in
their gardens at home.
– Developing a wildlife trail to encourage exploration of the various habitats we have here at
Bosinver. Young guests are invited to visit our woodland, hedgerows, lake and ponds, meadows
and pollinator garden taking brass rubbings and answering questions based on information to be
found on the habitat interpretation boards. Their prize for completing the trail is a Wildlife
Watcher’s handbook.
– Rehoming rescued hedgehogs (ongoing)

โ— We are also supporters of the work of local wildlife rescue Prickles and Paws and have now
been able to rehome dozens of their rehabilitated hedgehogs into our safe, relatively car-
free environment at Bosinver. We love to hear when guests have spotted these wonderful
creatures on-site at dusk.

 

Enjoy a break in Cornwall

If you would like to enjoy a break in Cornwall and reconnect wiht nature and our amazing wildlife we’d love to see you. Weโ€™ve got a range of cottages which sleep 4-12 people and weโ€™ve won many awards because we are passionate about sustainability โ€“ find out more and check availability.

Have you got any great wildlife shots that youโ€™d like to share? Weโ€™d love to hear from you on our Facebook page,ย Instagramย or tweet @Bosinver

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