A. Our environment and ecology

The environmental/ecological impact of creating accommodation and facilities within the groves at Levendis has been carefully planned to be a positive and healthy one simply because our environment is what we have. Firstly, in building our houses we used traditional Ithacan architecture and surrounded the buildings with natural plantings so that they blend into their surroundings. To totally avoid noise and air-polluting airconditioning systems, passive cooling techniques are employed: buildings are insulated, heavily vined verandahs supply cooling shade, there are no windows to afternoon sun, houses are oriented to the north-east and sea breezes, screened windows and doors give air flow without insects. Mountain spring water is gravity fed from the source directly to each house to ensure the provision of 'live' water. All rain water is collected from buildings using the forces of gravity to take it to an underground holding tank positioned below the houses. It is then pumped to a large holding tank which is hidden in the bushland well above the houses and then again, using the silent forces of gravity, is used to supply the swimming pool and gardens. A second system of collecting ground water for garden watering has been installed. Underground pipes run horizontally across the entire hillside each joining to a central pipeline which leads to another underground tank. Thus water damage to our severely sloping hillside has been halted and both gardens and pool can be supplied in times of drought. By providing guests with natural bathroom products and using natural cleaning products, all of which are biodegradable, the grey waters from our sewerage system are piped underground to water the forest and orchards. In winter houses are heated by slow-combustion wood burning heaters, using the wood we collect when olive trees are pruned annually.

Just as care of the environment was paramount in the creation of facilities and accommodation at Levendis, during our day to day operation, attention to the environment and ecology is the first consideration. During the olive harvest no part of the trees is wasted - the wood is used for heating, the fruit provides our oil and pickled olives; and smaller branches and leaves are put through a mulching machine and used as our garden mulch to save unnecessary watering. We make compost to enrich the poor soil by collecting garden prunings, the litter from the winter sheds used by our sheep and hens, weeds from the gardens, kitchen food waste and old newspapers, cardboard, etc. Twenty-five percent of our property is covered with natural bushland and cypress forest. Ten years ago this area was completely overgrown to the detriment of the plants and trees. We now manage this wonderfully rich ecosystem. We maintain small naturally-surfaced paths which meander through the forest so that guests are able to appreciate the variety of plants in the Mediterranean maquis and forest. Shaded sitting areas have been made and the paths are to be extended to give access to the beaches below the Estate. Large areas have been left untouched as they provide important nesting areas for birds, which, in turn, we need to keep the gardens and olive trees free of detrimental insects.

Our guests are invited to participate in our ‘carbon-free flights’ reaforestation plan, by purchasing the number of trees required to negate the carbon emissions of their flights to Greece. This is an extension of an NGO’s work here in Greece, and our guests can choose to have their trees planted at Levendis or making contributions directly to the NGO which works to replant natural forests on Greece’s barren mountainsides after forest fires.


B. Social and Cultural Impact

In large part, the creation of accommodation on our organic olive farm in l996 grew from our observations of the reactions of friends from overseas who visited us on the island. Although they set out on their journey to see us assuming they were coming to a Greek island for a typical island holiday, each time people visited, we found that they immediately become involved in our daily work on the farm, enjoying the natural environment, working outdoors, and beginning to understand the richness of working and living in a situation where their natural surroundings, the weather, food production, caring for animals and the groves were all inter-linked: something which, as city dwelling people, they’d not thought about often.

After five years of these experiences, we realized that we had the opportunity to provide gentle tourism, i.e., holidays on a Greek island with accommodation and facilities expected by world travellers, but at the same time, ensuring our holidays were also an opportunity for our guests to connect with the island’s culture, traditions, flora and fauna and to understand agricultural life in a country not usually thought of by tourists in this way. We planned to provide a way of appreciating living history and of understanding the interconnecting cycles of daily life and the work of producing food; and beginning to understand the importance of caring for and maintaining our fragile environment.

By surrounding our accommodation with natural mulched plantings, encouraging bird, insect and bee life in the gardens; young children are encouraged to learn why we do thee things. We suggest they collect different berries, leaves and insects so that we can help them with identification and an understanding of the balance of life. They collect fresh fruit and vegetables and help gather ingredients for making compost so that gardens can be mulched to save water and enrich the little soil the island provides us. We invite them to share the tasks of feeding our sheep and hens, giving them the fresh eggs, milk and yoghurt. As the children become excited by this sharing, their parents also begin to appreciate their children’s enjoyment of their holiday and therefore they also see their holiday experience as being a rich one.

Beyond the experience of life our own property, we encourage guests to walk in the island’s mountains. We have maps of mountain paths, pamphlets describing flora and fauna they may see along the way, and brief histories of the villages and their buildings. This encourages our guests to think about why the mountain villages are largely collections of unoccupied houses; how people of past generations lived and worked in such desolate places, their religions and customs, how they eked out their livelihoods, and what has happened in recent Greek history to make families decide to leave their island homes.

Thus, our guests leave the island with a much richer understanding and knowledge other than the obvious fact that islanders in Greece are friendly, taverna-owning people.


C. Economic impact

Despite the world-wide knowledge of Ithaca’s historical/mythological past, as described by Homer in ‘The Illiad’ and ‘The Odyssey’ and by many a writer and poet since Ulysses and Homer’s times, today Ithaca is a small island, with a population of only 2,000 people who struggle to maintain adequate income to allow them to remain on the island. Most young people leave the island in search of paid employment and hence the population numbers remain stagnant. Local agricultural, fishing, building and commercial businesses provide families with a minimum income. Sustainable tourism could be one way of ensuring the prosperity of Ithaca’s population. Because Ithaca is a small and environmentally fragile island, with very little infrastructure, it is essential that much thought and planning is injected to ensure that tourism ventures are sustainable, agri and eco-friendly.

With these philosophies firmly in mind we began to create the accommodation and facilities we provide at Levendis. We work to ensure that we positively affect our economic impact on the island’s economy. Every business we recommend to our guests - be it taxi drivers, local shops and tavernas, motor-boat and yacht hire, fishermen, organic meat supplier, supermarket, grocery store or gift shop – is owned and operated by a local family who is dependent on tourism income in order to remain on the island.

Firmly believing that the island’s future in terms of income and families remaining on the island can be improved with tourism income, we do not work with international package tour companies.