About Us
Our story
Situated on 1.5 hectares of rolling hillside, Sherwood looks out over extraordinary views of Lake Wakatipu and the surrounding mountains. Everything we do here reflects a sense of place. The wellbeing of our community and environment are fundamental to our ongoing success and we endeavour to operate in a way that looks after both.
Materiality
Low impact is key in our hotel design, and we utilise recycled, upcycled and carbon negative products to make this possible. Our wall linings are made from carbon negative cork. Our carpet tiles are made from recycled fishing nets. Upcycled army blankets became curtains. Recycled metal was used to create our furniture and recycled car tires became floor coverings in our kitchens and bathrooms.
Energy
We’re conscious of what we consume. Our 248 multi-crystalline panels were one of New Zealand’s largest private solar arrays when they were installed. This set up returns unused electricity back to the grid and ensures additional usage comes from 100% renewable sources. We also use LED lighting throughout and have free electric car charge stations available for guests.
Waste
Our journey to reduce waste is central to how we operate. We’re proud to say we’ve eliminated the vast majority of single use plastics from our supply chain. All our organic waste is composted and used to grow more food in our kitchen garden. Our restaurant and bar are working towards zero-waste to landfill and we are trying our best to do the same with the rooms, without expecting too much of our guests.
Social
We’re constantly striving to give back to our local community by supporting community events, including educational workshops, live music and wellbeing programmes. Our operational focus is creating a positive, healthy workplace. This includes free wellbeing classes for all staff and a management team that is 70% female.
Wellbeing
We have a responsibility to look after our guests. Wellbeing starts in the kitchen (or more precisely, in our garden) but it continues in our yoga and pilates studio. At Sherwood we offer yoga, meditation and massage for locals and guests and our educational programming has an additional wellbeing focus with workshops, seminars and retreats.
Procurement
We procure as locally and ethically as possible. 99% of the food we serve is sourced from New Zealand, 75% of which is from the South Island. Over 40% of our green produce is grown in our own kitchen garden. Our honey comes from our own beehives and 60% of our wine is produced by local vineyards for our bottled-in house programme, to eliminate transport and glass waste.
