Embrace eco-friendly with sustainable Surrey Hills’ businesses

14th February 2024

The Surrey Hills is an area of outstanding natural beauty known for its picturesque landscapes and charming villages, but what really sets it apart from other regions is the commitment of its local businesses to sustainability and environmentally-friendly practices.

Those businesses that fully embody this across the Surrey Hills have been awarded the Trade Mark Surrey Hills, a recognisable mark of quality, local provenance, and sustainability granted by Surrey Hills Enterprises. This special certification is a guarantee that when you visit or shop with a Trade Mark Surrey Hills business, you are supporting a company that is committed to preserving the unique character of the region and contributing to its sustainable development.

Read on to discover a selection of some of these local businesses, committed to sustainability and embracing eco-friendly practices!

Wellness

Nature’s Shield is run by two sisters aged 12 and 8 who are crazy about lip balm! Products created are 100% plastic free and made with natural ingredients. Lip balms come in recyclable tins and protect nature and humans from harmful waste and microplastics.

Family business, Nature Reclaimed, came about in response to the increase in litter during lockdown.Inspired to clean up, they soon discovered they could give old glass bottles a second life as scented candles using 100% natural wax, fragranced with pure essential oil blends, hand poured into upcycled glass bottles, each one cut by hand.

Revolutionising skincare: eco-Friendly, local, and purely natural, Puremess has a mission to offer skincare solutions that are as kind to your skin as they are to our planet. Their exquisite range of natural skincare products employ a blend of carefully selected oils, waxes, butters, and botanicals, sourced with sustainability in mind.

Julia Lampard Hair Salon is a retreat in the heart of Guildford where you can be assured of a warm welcome and relaxed environment. Passionate about caring for you, your hair and our beautiful planet, the team work in partnership with Davines, using natural and sustainable hair care products.

Food & Drink

The Chilli Potter handcrafts a wide array of chilli jams using homegrown chillis and ingredients sourced from a sustainable vegetable supplier. Each jams is homemade with lots of love and affection, each also with its own distinctive taste with plenty of fruitiness and fresh flavours.

Wildly Tasty is a range of nutritious plant-based meals for kids and families. They’re on a mission to show children how tasty wholesome plant-based eating can be, eating kindly to the planet whilst being packed with all natural nutritious ingredients. They are a planet-friendly business, working as sustainably as they can, from high quality suppliers and 100% vegan, all natural ingredients, through to recyclable packaging.

Traditional butchers with a modern twist, Surrey Hills Butchers sell meat from local, ethical farms in the Surrey Hills. They believe that every step of our food’s journey is important, from how the animal is fed to how it is slaughtered, not to mention how it is butchered and cooked.

Crumbs Brewing make beer using left over artisan bread from Chalk Hills Bakery in Reigate. Each beer is made with a different type of loaf, that way the style of the beer reflects the character of the delicious bread that makes it. They’re fighting food waste and making tasty, unique beers at the same time.

Chimney Fire Coffee is a B Corp™ Certified speciality coffee roastery, working hard to bring customers great tasting coffee that supports ethical and eco-friendly practices, all the way from farm to cup. They work directly with farmers, cooperatives, and exporters, making regular farm visits and committing to buying each new crop up front.

Just Champagne Ltd supplies champagne in smart gift boxes with your personal handwritten message delivered to the UK and USA. Using local suppliers wherever possible, the company also ensures their packaging is sustainable including recycled and recyclable cardboard boxes and sustainably sourced wooden gift boxes.

Experiences

Joy Farms – Craft, Woodcarving and Art is a friendly creative hub inspired by nature. They offer a variety of experiences to individuals, corporates and private groups looking to learn new skills, a new hobby perhaps or just to escape from it all and enjoy the peace and mindfulness of being creative surrounded by nature.

Harmony In Nature is run by experienced Forest Bathing guides Joanna Bristow-Watkins and Katie Robinson. Sessions combine an educational element, mindfulness and slow walking in woodland with sensory and meditative practices, for an immersive experience of the forest environment.

Lorraine and Paul Matthews at Hedges & Hurdles are passionate about sharing their knowledge and skills with others, encouraging people to discover a newfound love for nature and the outdoors! Offering experiences including hedgelaying, coppicing, and wattle hurdle training courses through to hands-on wood craft and willow art, craft and sculpture workshops.

Fully Charged Guildford are electric bike specialists with many years of expertise. Conveniently located in the centre of Guildford, they offer a carefully curated full range of urban, folding, hybrid, eMTB and eCargo electric bikes for everyone looking to go from A to Beyond!

Offering fresh seasonal, scented and sustainable flowers grown in the Surrey Hills, Plant Passion grows naturally without pesticides. Fabulous for weddings and events, individual and seasonal bouquets as a gift or for yourself, monthly individually picked stems delivered to your door or even to learn the art of flower arranging with Claire.

Art &Craft

Taxidermist, The Surrey Stuffer, works with British Native Wildlife which has died accidentally or as result of pest control/culling, donating a percentage of any profits made to local wildlife rehabilitation.

Alison at Ned+Sloan creates individual and wearable jewellery inspired by her garden, the seaside and a longstanding interest in fashion. Most pieces are one-offs and she particularly enjoys hand casting and using unusual stones. Her preference is for recycled silver and hand casting allows her to re-use all of her ‘scrap’ metal.

Surrey Woodcraft is a collaboration between twins David and Stewart McKenzie that brings together their different woodworking skills, producing a range of handcrafted wooden homeware, kitchenware, stationary, gift items and musical instruments using reclaimed timber where possible, or else locally sourced timber.

Business Services

Working with bold purpose-led businesses as their outsourced chief impact officer, Keartland & Co helps them to make sustainability their competitive advantage. Through bespoke consultancy, they help business leaders build a sustainable business by showing where to start and what steps to take, using a proven five-step approach to create and deliver their sustainability roadmap.

The Crest Business Awards celebrate and recognise success in sustainability. Free to enter and open to any businesses operating in Surrey, they are the only awards of their kind, aiming to inspire and motivate innovation to protect the environment and promote more sustainable working and lifestyle habits.

Raw Clay is a soulful identity and interior design agency, specialising in food and drink, property and lifestyle brands. Digging beneath the surface to craft an identity customers want to immerse themselves in, Raw Clay works exclusively with brands that give back positively to the world.

A carbon management consultancy, 5D Net Zero helps local businesses to reduce carbon emissions, become carbon neutral and achieve net zero by 2050. Supporting businesses in every step of their journey, they deliver tailored carbon footprint measurements to identify the biggest sources of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), carbon reduction plans and certified carbon credit offsets using the most widely used and internationally recognised standards.

LC Energy is one of the UK’s leading specialists in sustainable wood fuel supply, complete biomass systems and long-term timber purchase agreements. The business is at the forefront of the sector and working with both local independent companies and installations, as well as large national projects such as BAA and Center Parcs.

Hampton Digital Services Ltd specialise in WordPress design for service-based businesses looking to reduce their carbon emissions. They offer green hosting power by 100% renewable energy, along with website design and maintenance, SEO, social media management, competitor analysis and google analytics.

Expatriate Tax Advisory Service Limited are a family-owned tax practice with UK and US qualified tax consultants, providing tax advice and preparing tax returns for British and other individuals, living in the UK or abroad. They became a Certified B Corporation in 2022 and are currently planning their journey to Net Zero by 2030.

To discover more local business offering eco-friendly products, experiences and services, visit: https://surreyhills.org/love-local/find-local-businesses.