New ecoescape website!

When I began working on ecoescape back in 2006, I had in the back of my mind that an online version of the book would be a good idea. That thought was put to one side as I concentrated on getting the book together for launch in spring this year.

Much to my relief you loved the book. However, the website question resurfaced as the book gained in popularity. A number of cyber surfers - of all ages I might add - felt a bit left out. For them books were good, websites are better.

So, in the spirit of inclusiveness, I got my thinking cap back on to see how I could make a web version of the book. I'd already had a go at building a website. And, despite the fact that it received some polite praise, I thought against the idea of building the new site myself (even after borrowing a book about web-databases from the library!). So that meant raising some money. I was lucky to receive some more Big Lottery Funding and a small donation from the Co-operative Bank customer fund, which together was enough to pay a company to build me a shiny new website.

It wasn’t difficult choosing a web company. In fact that was the easy part. When I first met Jez from Make Hay in my Nottingham office, he was so obliging and friendly that I knew he’d get me up and running on the internet before long. The best thing is that Make Hay is an ethical company and can power my website with the wind. My kind of people.

I know that there’s lots of other people to thank and I hope I have thanked you personally. So all that’s left to be said is I hope this website continues the message of responsible escapism I started in my little book. And there’s lots more happening in 2008 with ecoescape. The best way to find out is to sign up for the eco-logue – ecoescape’s monthly newsletter.

Laura x
Founder, ecoescape

Eco-Arcadia at the Green Man Festival

green man festival 07
Originally uploaded by ecoescape

Having just returned from the marvellous Green Man festival in Wales, I have to say it is like its name; one of the greenest events you could attend. Despite heavy rain and rising mud levels, the festival had a real laid back charm and we loved its efforts to recycle and promote green living. The Green Fields area, new for 2007, was a great way to not only escape the mud but also visit some interesting exhibitions - the solar powered milk float stage was great! The Eco-Arcadia, dubbed the World's First Biodiesel Powered Pinball Arcade (above) was loads of fun and the array of organic and locally sourced food kept the crowds happy.

tour update

The ecoescape tour of the green event circuit is going off with a bang.

The Dulwich Festival attracted a good crowd and sunny weather and more jute bags than you could wave a hemp plant at.

The following week, Nottingham Green Festival saw a hardcore crowd turn out despite heavy ran all day long. Our home-town response was truly admirable so those fearless Nottingham-ites should be very proud of themselves.

This weekend, the sun shone for Camden Green Fair in Regent's park, with a great turnout of friendly people. Here are some pictures of our stall.

good design for good people

This is the underpinning ethic behind Eskimo Design, the creative people behind ecoescape and now good friends of mine.

They've recently updated their website, and I'm pleased to say that it reflects more than ever their excellent design skills and desire to work on projects that make a positive difference. They have done more than I could have imagined to make ecoescape not just a great read but something that communicates to people.

Check out their website below for more details about how we worked together.

http://www.eskimodesign.org.uk/projshow.html

A new concept in timeshare

Last week I was fortunate enough to spend a few days at the beautiful Trelowarren Estate on the Lizard Peninsula in Cornwall.

The estate is over 600 years old and its present owner Sir Ferrer Vyvyn is busy not only renovating the existing cottages and outbuildings, but building new clusters of eco-timeshare homes.

New Consumer TV made a great film while I was there so catch it below...

Trelowarren is featured in ecoescape.

Click To Play

ecoescape's green fest summer tour

ecoescape is very excited to announce its summer tour of green festivals across the land.

Starting it all off, we'll be at the Dulwich Park Green Festival on Sunday 20 May '07.
Dulwich Park, SE21
Time: 12 - 6pm
Admission: free
The Green Festival is a spectacular climax to a two week long celebration.

Sunday 27 May '07
Next we head back home to Nottingham, for the Nottingham Green Festival.
A party in the Arboretum, starting at 11.30am (admission is free).

Sunday 3 June '07
Back down to London for the massive Camden Green Fair - one I'm particularly looking forward to not least because of its bicycle fest!
The fair begins at 12pm and admission is again free.

1 - 5 August '07
Last but not least, we'll be doing the rounds at the Big Green Gathering in Somerset where the bicycle trailer will be used for its special 'fly-pitching' status!

See you there!

Wow! We've been busy at ecoescape HQ since our launch! So much so that I'm going to give a few highlights of the past few weeks...

The weekend following the launch Richard Hammond wrote a lovely article about ecoescape in the Guardian entitled 'Green Grass of Home' - a great end to a spectacular launch week. The Guardian Travel feature elequently summed up ecoescape's vision to help people see the world with new eyes starting right here on our doorsteps.

The following week, more press attention followed incuding the Times, and the BBC. Innocent Drinks featured ecoecape in their weekly news and gave 20 guides away as competition prizes. Calverts our green printers also gave some copies away as prizes.

To keep up to date with ecoescape's press coverage visit our press area.

Easter weekend saw glorious sunshine and whilst the temptation to escape to the country was great, unfortunately work had to be done at ecoescape HQ. Nonetheless seeing an opportunity to get creative in the garden, we turned two old pallets on which ecoescape was shipped into a very unique book shelf (right).

This week we visited the London Book Fair at Earl's Court - a good opportunity to get to grips with the latest publishing trends. Andrew Greenman, ecoescape's director has put his thoughts down on paper about the day and in particular following the seminars we attended at this link including the latest on digital travel publishing.

Still basking in sunshine, yesterday was a big day for ecoescape as we took to Attenborough Nature Centre to make the first ever film of the project. The nice boys at String Films took all manner of equipment to the Centre to capture history in the making... The famous bicycle trailer took centre stage (much to my dismay) but all the same I am excited about the finished product which will feature on the website shortly.