Straiton-based Balbeg Country Holidays has been named a winner in the national Helping It Happen Awards 2021.

The awards are managed by rural business organisation, Scottish Land & Estates and sponsored by GLM.

Balbeg Country Holidays won the Iver Salveson Award for Combatting Climate Change category, sponsored by Murray Beith Murray. The judges felt they really stood out for their estate-wide work to ensure their holiday business and other rental properties were as eco-friendly as possible now and in the future.

The business provides self-catering accommodation and to combat climate change the estate has installed a 27 kw hydro scheme which can power 22 homes, installed a 199kw woodchip biomass boiler to provide heat and hot water to seven residential properties on the Estate, and planted new woodland over 128 acres which is predicted to sequester 12,856 tonnes of CO2 equivalent over the next 55 years.

Balbeg Country Holidays fought off stiff competition from two other finalists in the Iver Salveson Award for Combatting Climate Change category – Clyde Climate Forest in Lanarkshire and Forth Resource Management based in East Lothian (2020 Helping it Happen Awards winner).

A representative for the company said: “We are absolutely thrilled to have won this award and to see that our hard work is paying off.

“Thank you for the support.”