Win a 2 Night Stay at Garryvoe Hotel
With Father’s Day taking place on Sunday June 17th Purchase.ie is on the search for Ireland’s No 1 Eco Dad. We have teamed up with the wonderful Garryvoe Hotel to offer a first prize of a 2 night weekend stay for 2 at this great East Cork resort.
Garryvoe Hotel has committed itself to actively managing their environmental footprint and taking specific actions to minimise carbon emissions and reduce waste. They have received the platinum award from Green Hospitality Ireland which is the highest level of certification a hotel can achieve and is only one of four hotels to achieve this certification level.
Myguideireland.com describe Garryvoe Hotel as “a four star stylish modern family-owned hotel situated on one of Ireland’s finest beaches at beautiful Ballycotton Bay.
Acclaimed travel writer Lucinda O’Sullivan says “We were in a glorious Junior Suite with a wonderful high cathedral ceiling. I could have stayed in that room for a week without leaving it – and lived on room service”
But there won’t be just one winner. We are giving away a second and third prize as well!
How to Enter the Father’s Day Competition
Simply Outline why you or the person you are nominating should be considered Ireland’s No 1 Eco Dad.
Does he treat you to a romantic candle light dinner (only because he wants to turn off the lights and save electricity)?
Does he leave the garden grass grow because he hates to waste diesel on the lawn-mover?
Perhaps he is a true green and is making an honest effort to minimise his carbon footprint and likes to lecture others on doing the same.
Whatever the reasons let us know by submitting you entry in the below comment field. We will pick the winners based on what we feel are the strongest entries.
Closing date for entry is Thursday June 14th. We will announce the winners on Friday June 15th
We have also compiled a useful guide to Father’s Day Gifts in 2012. Well worth a read if you are struggling to think of something original this year.
Please also note we are giving a 10% discount on all orders until the end of May when you submit the promotion code May10 at checkout. If you prefer talking call us on 01 8428187, quote the code and we will process your order over the phone.
I would love to nominate my dad for this, as he is passionate about preserving the environment and the natural habitat around him. He is a part-time farmer and does everything he can to ensure that his farm is as eco-friendly as possible. He doesn’t use any pesticides or herbicides on his land. He composts and recycles everything possible. I am always amazed at how they only have one black bag of waste at the end of the month.
He uses water butts to catch rainwater to use on his vegetables. He is always using making delicious dinners with things that grow wild on the farm. His specialty is an absolutely gorgeous nettle and barley soup. I love this as it’s a natural remedy for my hayfever. He also makes a lovely champ using nettles. He loves making tonics from the fruit he grows and is very interested in finding natural remedies for ailments. His biggest interest has to be birds and animals. He builds bird-boxes and places them all around the farm for birds to nest in. He says there is no need to use insecticides if you invite the birds onto your farm. He lives next to a busy road and keeps an eye out for any wild animals knocked down and killed. If he spots them, he brings them off the road for the foxes to eat. This one has always grossed me out a bit, but he thinks it’s a waste to leave them there to rot.
I would really love to win this for my dad, as he is so good to me. He recently made me some vegetable boxes, so I could grow my own salad veg and herbs. He is a fountain of information about nature and the environment and has helped me to understand that we are the key to preserving our planet 🙂
Our dad is super green. He has taught us why it is important to recycle. Our recycle bin is always full up of papers, yoghurt pots and plastic. All our eggs, peelings and tea bags go in the wormery where he makes worm tea. In his compost heap he makes compost for the garden and we have to collect up leaves. We also water the garden with water he catches in his water butts (this makes us laugh).
He takes us to the bottle bank where we help put the bottles in (we love the noise when they smash)
He used to remind us to turn off lights and the telly but now we do it ourselves.
When we go shopping we have to take bags with us as he taught us about why plastic bags are not good, we go to the farmers market where he buys local things. He buys us clothes and book from charity shops as he says he was reusing things instead of wasting them.
We think he needs a holiday as he worries about the environment and this has given him grey hairs.
A (7) and J (6)
My dad planted lovely birch trees to enhance our home and now they are full of birdsong and look so beautiful. they have enhanced the landscape in our area.
He made a lovely bird table from a spruce ring and the birds love it and can escape our cat.
He has an abhorrence of purchasing new clothes and believes in wearing them to threads – including shoes which last for years and years. Believe me – the planet is safe with him.!
My dad had the foresight to plant a small woodland in 1987. Although the Department of Ag. wanted him to plant only pine trees for harvesting, he insisted on planting as many native species as possible and it’s amazing to walk amongst them now and see this whole new habitat, with woodland flowers (long dormant in the soil) springing up everywhere. Now he is harvesting some of the pine trees, for their own use, but he is insistent on planting even more than he has taken. I think this is admirable.
I want to nominate my Dad for all the years he spent roaring at us to turn off the lights when we were finished in a room! He was rescuing items from being dumped and re-using things long before anything like Jumbletown came along. Years ago he planted about seventy native oak trees from acorns collected in a park and now they’re maturing so well and look amazing. He installed a rainwater tank to supply the toilets and showers in the house over thirty years ago and his next project is a windturbine. He’s always looking for new green things to do, no-one knows what he’ll get up to next!
my husband paul the father of our three wonderful children should be nominated dad of the year 2012. he is brillant with the kids, he has got them involved in growing their own vegetables. they are in charge of watering them every night under his supervision and are always eager to report any progress in the vegetable patches growth. i love him to bits more than he can every imagine and i suppose i dont tell him enough. he is such a hard working honest family man and i hope we are all arounf for a long time to enjoy each others company
I would love to nominate my hubby. He is so aware of the environment. He has printed of a few copies of what can be placed into the green bin and has them around the kitchen and make sure everything is washed and cleaned before he puts it in the bin. He now has started to use the brown bin for home made compost And has started a little vegetable garden In our back garden for our kids.
He recycles everything all the bottles go to the bottle bank and even now his clothes go to the clothes bank.
All our lightbulbs are Energy saving and he would never leave the tv on standby as this uses half as much energy as its on. He also turns the dishwasher off just as it goes to dry and opens it up and lets them dry with the door open. As he is going to become a dad for the 2nd time in August he wants to make this planet a happy and greener plant for our babies.
He’s fant
Hi,
What a wonderful idea your Eco-Dad competition is(dad’s are very often the unsung hero’s) . So may I nominate Bradley My Wonderful Husband and Dad.
When we were building our house in 2005, he wanted to be as Eco as our budget would allow. He hates concrete so it was built with a clay block with, we have bamboo flooring throughout the house, which is quick growing and from a sustainable source of managed forests. We were refused planning (you don’t need planning now but we can’t afford it) for a wind turbine but he had all the cables/electric put in place just in case. We have solar panels and a wood pellet boiler. He loves wood pellets so much for their sustainability that he set up selling stoves and boilers. He loves natural products as opposed to man made. He has replaced every light bulb in the house with energy saving light bulbs. We have a 900ltr (old oil tank) as a rain water harvester which I use for watering my veggies.
He hates waste and recycles as much as is feasible with our local council, this goes for the business too. Any waste printer paper gets cut to size and used as note paper first before being recycled. Toner cartridges are recycled also.
On the funny side, he has been know on more that one occasion to recycle my birthday and mothers day cards by giving them back to me :-), He never looses a pen and uses it until it is completely runs out.
He wishes he could do more and dreams of “the good life” and being totally self sufficient one day and having the carbon foot print of a thumb-tack.
Many thanks
Sinead & McKenzie
I want to nominate my husband John. He is totally committed to being eco friendly. He has a compost bin in the garden and when it’s composted, he spreads it on our flowers. He makes us all aware of recycling our plastic, paper, glass etc and has all the different bins lined up for our use. He has been known to check the regular bin on occassion if he thinks one of the children might have accidentally not recycled. Between collecting water, glass, paper & vegetable parings he has to be one of Irelands top eco dads. He’s a lean, Green , fighting machine!!!
My husband/dad deserves to get some special praise here. He does the recycling bottles.papers etc.,We have the eco lights, he turns off tvs, computers, washing machines etc when not in use.He has installed state of the art insulation and constantly watches our heating etc. We also compost a hugh amount of waste.
But I feel where he stands out is in the kitchen. He is superb at recycling our food. There is never food discarded in our house. Bread is always made into crumbs for stuffing, and coating chicken, fish etc. all left over veg is mashed and he makes what we like to call them veggie burgers, and they are delicious mixed with some chopped rasher and chives( might add he grows most of these veg) . Any milk that is going off is made into batter for pancakes. Hard cheese is grated to use in omlettes, pastas etc., The list goes on. When cooking a roast, all veg and potatoes are cooked in the oven with it. Even the odd apple tart (which I’m responsible for making ) This I admit saves us a packet, as there is 5 adults in this house and our food bill could be quite hefty.
In his workplace he will take the left over bread and feed it to the ducks in the park on his way home for work rather than see it discarded. He cares so much about our environment and reducing waste he is our number 1. ” Eco Dad”
I would love to nominate my dad ..He is very keen on taking care of the enviroment
When it comes to recycling he is very particular , washing out each little thing before they go in the bin ..switching off everything as he passes,Never ever is there leftover food in our house
Our garden is so lovely and well maintained , birds fed well , Our horses manure used for plants , compost bin .
I would love him to win this award as it would make him so proud of the little things that he does ..and then he would know that we do appreciate and notice each and every little thing he does
I just got married 3 weeks ago so this could be my ‘leaving my daddy’ present to him ha ha …….Left home long before this but its now official and he was such a proud dad on my wedding day
We actually got married in an eco friendly farm in Italy . each and everything grown on the farm is used in the resturants .All our guests couldnt believe how lovely it was there , so peaceful and relaxing in the surroundings of the farm ..even the pigs had our wedding cake for their breakfast the next morning
I would love to win this for my dad as he is sooo eco friendly and quite the miser when it comes to the bills, Even in winter when it would be freezing cold in the house my mother would have to sneak on the heating he would always just say if your cold put on more clothes simple as that and turning off lights around the house until it was pitch dark at night and we needed them! He eventually changed every single bulb to the energy saving ones which i guess is a plus haha I would love to win this for my dad though 🙂
I am a Daddy’s Girl – I always have been. I realise now I am an adult how much I am one though. I bought my own place a few years ago and my green daddy spends his time growing slips of plants into fully formed beautiful potted plants to brighten up my little patio. Every so often he appears with a box full of his own homegrown veg – scallions, lettuce, spring onions, baby potatoes and more and presents them to me as a little gift because he knows I’m so poor all I was planning to eat that day was a tin of beans. The food is the most delicious you have ever tasted as it is grown on top of his compost heap! He has a huge compost heap – half of which is in use as a compost heap and the other half of which has the most nutritious soil which he uses for veg. He rotates ever so often. I remember telling him once how his ‘organic’ veg would cost a fortune in a shop. He just looked at me and I had to explain the word organic. He had never considered there was an alternative. My dad was an ‘eco-dad’ before there was such a thing. He even grows tomatoes behind a pane of broken glass (which he refused to throw out) in the garden, then to ripen them puts them on the spare bedroom window which is a sun trap. If you are sleeping over you might have to share the room with ripening tomatoes. The porch is full of reused margarine tubs labelled with different seedlings. My poor mother despairs of him, but then he appears at the back door with his box of veg and her heart melts. Nothing better than a sunny Sunday family dinner in the garden with our eco-dad’s veg as the main ingredients in our salad.
This eco-daddy’s girl would love him to win.
My husband is great at recycling, we have built chicken coops, duck and goat housing out of timber and left overs from building our home. He has installed rainwater harvesting tanks and used left over poly plumbing pipe set up an irrigation system to water the polytunnels in which we grow our own fruit and veg. We have erected a small wind turbine and solar panel to attempt lighting self sufficiency. He has taught our children the importance of recycling and caring for the environment. There’s nothing he can’t turn his hand to in order to recycle, reinvent or reuse old stuff lying around in his garage. He’s our eco hero.
My husband is a turf cutter and super dad to our three little girls. As one can imagine he’s flat out this time of the year and so we barely see over the seven days of the week so a lovely holiday would be fab to rest his weary bones. The little radio would be super also as the poor devil has no radio in the hopper. Despite the ongoing saga with the Government and the EU over the is it illegal/legal to cut turf? my husband is very eco-aware both in work and at home.
I would like to nominate my husband Brian as he is a great lover of nature. As well as looking after our garden he also looks after his mum’s garden since his Dad passed away. He often runs in at night to call us out to tell us that there is a fox in the field behind our house and he enjoys wildlife. Recently our dog was going crazy because he discovered a hedgehog in the back garden and my husband had to rescue it from our dog. He takes our dog walking twice a day in a lovely woods near our home and has spotted an Owl there he really is a nature lover. He also goes on mountain walks with a group who sometimes raise money for worthwhile charities and comes back with beautiful photographs.
Sometimes, I don’t think I can do enough to be Green, but then I look around me and see what I really have and what is really important…My kids future… by asking them to turn off the lights 10 times a day, what am I really doing? I am teaching them to be responsible By asking them to put the plug in the sink while they are washing themselves, I am teaching them not to waste precious resources. By letting them watch me make their hamster run out of bits of wood I have stored in my shed, I am teaching them to be resourceful. Only the other day my 12 year old had a 5 minute shower and after his shower he shouts down the stairs and proudly tells us that he only used 35 litres of water and not he is working on lowering the temperature. Some people might thing this si to extreme for a kid, but it is his own doing and his future that he is doing it for…. I love my kids very much and to do these little physiological things for them I am making them better and more responsible People.
i would just love to give it to my husband he is a great dad the best
i would like to put forward my daughters dad david.. He is the best dad even to her. all the usual things but so much more i look at others dads and some are part timers he is 100%
I think my Dad has too much time on his hands. Ever since he retired last year, he’s become a freak and in more ways than one! He’s amazed us all with his new found approach to life, nature and the environment. Maybe that’s what will happen us all when we get old! First thing he did was sell his car. He was not going to be responsible for any more toxic fumes, it’s all about his spanking new bike and he’s proud as punch wheeling around the city in his new “eco machine”. The he gave up his once beloved pipe – never thought we’d see that day. He’s become obsessed with the garbage. Woe betide anybody who slips paper into the refuse bin or food bits into the paper bin. Every item has its own special home and he’s become decidedly neurotic about the whole system. And no, it doesn’t end there. Water is no longer a free for all. Even our showers are strictly timed and in a house of 4 girls, this has caused quite a few sparks to fly! I can’t decide whether I love or loathe this new ‘green man’ Dad’s become but one this is for sure, he’s making us all feel very guilty if we don’t do our bit for the environment and I guess that can only be a good thing
I would like to nominate my wonderful husband. He is an amazing father to our 8 month old son. He is definitely Ireland’s #1 Eco dad in many, many ways. He has changed all the light bulbs in the hosue to eco-friendly light bulbs, bought a compost bin for the backyard where he puts all our gardening waste (grass, flowers, leaves, etc.) and house waste (leftover food), he hangs out all the laundry instead of using the dryer, he only drives the car when absolutely needed, he wipes the dishes first with the sponge then rinses them instead of having the tap run the whole time, and he makes sure all the switches and lights are all off every night before bed. These are only a few things to mention, but he is truly an eco dad. He loves the planet and all the people in it. He wants the world to be liveable for his son and his son’s children, and so he makes sure he does his part. If we had money, he would definitely have solar panels installed and a windmill so he could help out even more. He is a genuinely kind man and I am so happy I can call him my husband. Please choose him…he may only be doing the small things, but he does so many small things that it equals out to be a big help in preserving the earth for a little longer.
I thik my dad should win best eco dad as he is a farmer and has always thought us to respect our environment as its the gift we give to future generations. He is passionate about farming naturally and loves to hang bird feeders around the garden in order to feed the birds and invite them in to the garden and it is du to him that i now know the names of most garden birds. We were thought from a very young age to turn off lights when we werent in the room and not to leave the tv or other applicances on standby and to this day it has stuck to me and is now habit to turn things off properly when not in use. We were also thought to save water and not waste it by leaving taps on when brushing our teeth/ doing the wash up etc. Dad is always building things out of spare materials and this is something he has passed on to all of us as recycling is big in our house and if something can be used again it. I would love it if my Dad won as he really is the best and has given us an appreciation of the environment around us and shown us how to care for and preserve it. I would also love him to win this as it would mean a lot to him so please pck my Dad as number 1 eco Dad 2012.
My husband has a 96km round trip to work every day. You can imagine how much diesel he burns each week!
To try and cut back on not only the cost but the carbon emissions he purchased a bike through the bike to work scheme and has started training in order to cycle to work.
He has now worked his way up to 2 days a week and is hoping to gradually increase this to a point where he only has to drive in extreme weather or if he sleeps it out 🙂
As you can imagine he has to get up extremely early to get to work on time and he is now usually snoring before the kids at night. He could do with a few nights in a fancy resort 😉
I nominate my Dear old Dad to win this Garryvoe break because he recycles everything,once he stood into the bin to push down the rubbish and the bin toppled and he broke his elbow,he barely has domestic waste,id say his bin goes out 3 times a year,he recycles so much.Him and my Mum would be overjoyed to win a break at this hotel so close to their home in Cork City
I would like o nominate. Y husband for this, he is the most loving, caring husband ever. He looks after us daily, cooks, cleans and loves with all his heart, he helps random strangers. All the time, even if its an old lady crossing the road, o bringing in a neighbors bin com the street.
When i had my baby boy fo a full year and a half I had post natal depression and practically lived in my bedrrom for 18 months. He literally brought me breakfast in bed, dinner in bed and tea in bed daily all awhile looking after a new born. Looking back on it now it is very embarrassing to admit but I have to give credit wh ere it is due. The man is an angel in disguise.
I have 5 hernaited discs in my back so he is out of work just to mind my son and I. I cannot express enough how good this man is to us. He looks after the house, paints, fixes, any diy jobs, cooks cleans, shops, minds out t boy and practically dresses me, he deserves a medal because I couldn’t do what he does. He is just an amazing man. Love with all my Heart and he truly. Deserves a break,
Thank you for taking time to read this,
Kind regards,
And happy fathers day to all the fathers out there x
I would like to nominate my husband Tony. He and our little girl are two peas in a pod and he is educating her and sharing with her their love of the environment, even though she is not four yet. Every evening, she pulls on the wellies and accompanies her Daddy to visit the hen house to collect eggs. He has planted rows of lavander around the house to encourage insects. He has planted with our little girls help, a number of raised bed gardens with fruit such as strawberries, blackcurrant trees, raspberries and apple trees along with potatoes, and veg of all sorts. The grass cuttings go to the compost heap or to the hens. They water the hanging baskets and flowers every night using the water collected in the water butt. EVERYTHING is recycled in our house, cans, bottles, paper plastic, and food goes to our dog or hens. He even makes our own logs using newspapers etc. He has instilled in our little one, the value of water, turning off tap when washing teeth etc and not leaving lights etc on. She is not quite four yet and will correct you if you leave a tap on. Apart from instilling all these valuable lessons into our little girl, the bond they have as they share their duties is worth its weight in gold.
I would like to nominate my dad, he is the best, he grows his own potatoes, he dug the garden by himself, we have two ponies and he collected the pony dung and used it for manure for the potatoes. We also have hens and he feeds them with our left over veg scraps. He has a few barrells around the garden and these fill up with rainwater which he uses for watering Mammy polyhouse and rest of garden. Instead of a lawn mower the ponies eat the grass. we go for walks and he collects sticks that have blown from trees and he uses them to light the fire.
My dad also recycles all the bottles in bottle banks. I help him with this. He also recycles papers and tins. He teaches me to recycle too. He is constantly telling me to close doors after me to keep the heat in.
E aged 6.5
My hubbie dear is oh so green
He really is a mean machine
To save the earth is his dream
But sometime’s it makes me scream
He never wants to flush the loo
he always says “just wait til number two!”
He loves to see people reduce and reuse
or he would tend to blow a fuse!
He never likes to see any waste
any food leftover he uses with haste
He loves to keep his family fed
with lots of lovely veggies from the raised bed
The kids all thing he is their hero
Because he keeps our carbon footprint zero!
I hope you pick him to be the eco dad
It would make him of so glad!
I nominate my dad because when i was younger he said i could make my own compost usually he’d break his promise but this time he didn’t. I was going through a phaise where i had to recycle and this went on for a year. My dad helped me sort out rubbish. Just for me my dad planted our own vegtables. Every day after school i’d put on my wellies and go out and help him. To save money my dad makes sure no lights are left on and that we walk places we don’t need to drive to. He cares so much about the Earth I would be shocked if my dad didn’t get this prise! He inspired me to go my own little plant in my room a year ago and the flower is still in my window moving with the sun. I just want to make my dad happy like he has made me for 13 years. We have a pet dog and because dad hates wasting any left over food goes to the dog. He collects rainwater to water our plants. He also goes to the bottle bank to recycle bottles every weekend. When he cuts the grass , he feeds the cows in the feild beside our house.
my husband is the most amazing dad to our son. he helps me to be better mom and he chosen to be the “bad cop” because I can’t, Im too weak to see our son crying.
He teaches our child to recycle, and dispose our son’s nappies into bin. He takes care of the garden compost and always add compost friendly kitchen leftoovers.
My dad is my dad and nothing will ever beat him . He was there for me threw thick and thin even threw the hardest part of my life so far. I was looking threw the internet and i found this and i remember he mentioned something about preposing to my mom 22 years ago down there . And i knew this was perfect .
i would love this for my dad as he is very green !!! On a serious note he is very good at energy saving and has taught his 2 grandaughters all about recycling, cans, paper bottles. He has the garden compost bin of which he uses peat in the green house.He grows is own veg in the garden which both he and mam work so hard at, rears his own cattle and calves. He turns off all sockets going to bed as our house used to be a ON Stand By mode all the time. and more than anything else my dad works hard, stuck by us all and deserves this as i cant afford to send him
My Eco Hubby Ross
My Da is so green, I have developed super-hero level night vision!
“ah now, do you really need all these lights on, can’t you see the telly better when tis off sure, it’s like the cinema!”
I would like to nominate my Dad as the Best Irish Eco Dad Of the Year because…..he is constantly saving energy and light – day and night
Conserving water and reducing waste – in this justifiable eco race !!!
We are aptly nicknamed locally, as the “Eco family” – for being so “Eco Rich friendly”
So If your looking for the Best Irish Eco Dad No.1 – then dont waste anymore time or energy as My “Eco Dad” is the perfect one.
Yet again the standard of entries was amazing for this competition so thank you all for you wonderful contributions.
I think at least 10 of you really would have been a worthy winner.
Unfortunately there is only three prizes and on this occasion the Judge has gone with
1st Prize Weekend for 2 At Garryvoe Hotel – Emma Bourke
2nd Prize: Submersible Water Pump – Joey Howard
3rd Prize: Solar Radio – Lorraine Brennan
Emails on the way to the winners. Keep on eye out for the next competition and please keep shopping at Purchase.ie “Ireland’s Favourite Eco-Store”