Our Hotel Farm
Fifteen years ago, Dermot Brennan started the Hotel Farm, located just 2 km from Brook Lane Hotel. At the time, the land had been unused for many years. Dermot decided to foster the hotel’s love of local produce and create a sustainable way to supply the hotel with fresh food straight from the farm.
Dermot began by breeding Pedigree Saddleback Rare Breed Pigs, with all of the pork used exclusively in the hotel and No 35. He personally handcrafts the sausages served at Brook Lane, transforming his passion for the farm to fork philosophy into a true calling. Over the years, Dermot’s dedication has been recognised with numerous prestigious awards including;
Champion of Ireland for Pork Sausage at the Fins Goustiers European Championships in France
Best Overall Food Product at the Listowel Food Fair
Multiple accolades at the Irish Food Awards in Dingle, Awards for both our sausages and charcuterie
Menu Provenance Award at the Gold Medal Awards
We are proud to be the only hotel in Ireland producing organic pork just 2 km from our kitchen, and making our own award-winning sausages.
The farm has blossomed into a thriving organic farm. We now raise outdoor, pasture-fed hens, providing the hotel with fresh eggs every morning. We also keep rare breed Jacob sheep, supplying fresh lamb directly to our menus.
As of this year, Dermot has started keeping bees and has set up an aviary, with plans to develop this further so that we can offer our own honey to guests in the near future.
What was once unused land is now a booming, sustainable farm, rich with wildlife and contributing to a true farm-to-fork experience for all who stay with us.
At Brook Lane Hotel, we have taken many steps to make our building and operations as sustainable as possible. Sustainability is not just a policy for us, it’s part of our everyday decisions.
Some of the actions we’ve taken include:
- We’ve upgraded our bathroom amenities to feature VOYA products, luxurious, organic formulations made with sustainably harvested Irish seaweed. This switch not only enhances your in-room experience but also reduces environmental waste, supporting our commitment to sustainability.
- Switching to LED lighting throughout the hotel, significantly reducing our electricity usage.
- Supporting the local economy by employing local people, providing team housing, and ensuring gender balance and equality within our team
- Sourcing local produce whenever possible, including food from our own hotel farm.
- Operating an in-house laundry, reducing transport emissions and giving us full control over eco-friendly practices.
- Recycling all of our used photocopy paper, which is shredded and reused as bedding for animals on our farm.
- Designing our gardens to be pollinator-friendly, including the creation of a wildflower garden using native Irish organic wildflowers to support bees and local wildlife.
- Reducing plastic waste in our guest bedrooms, including switching to fully recyclable, paper-based water bottles.
We believe that sustainability is not about grand gestures but about consistent, thoughtful actions,big and small - that add up to real change. Our goal is to ensure a more sustainable future, not just for our guests, but for our local community and the generations to come. We’re proud of the steps we’ve taken so far and remain committed to doing more every day.
