Sustainability is high on the agenda in every business today. Some see it as a chore and liability. To others it is a great way of adding value. Have just been to Turkey with Exclusive Escapes, an excellent independent travel company specialising in Greece and Turkey for those who want a great holiday experience where little is left to chance. This time we stayed at The Dionysos Estate, Kumbuluk near to Turunc – about 45 minutes north of Marmaris. The hotel is in a magnificent location hanging above the Kumbuluk Gorge – 250 metres above the bay below. Views out to sea where the mountains plunge steeply into the deep blue waters are magnificent. The terracotta roofs of the buildings and the azure blue of the large infinity pool are the only giveaway of the hotel’s existence as you approach up the mountain road. The rest blends sympathetically into the landscape – unlike so many of the hotel developments that scar the beauty of the Mediterranean coast. 
Service and standards at the hotel are immaculate under the watchful eye of enterprising owner Ahrmet. He looks for any possible way to make a stay at the hotel even more memorable and recognises that good food and wine are high on the list of priorities of this clientele. The grounds are full of fruit trees: figs, plums, apricots, citrus and these appear daily on the breakfast table. Beneath the citrus salad crops grow, irrigated by seeper hose and grown quickly in the warm semi-shade. All meals feature fresh tasty, lettuce, purslane, rocket and leafy mustards flavoured with dill and spring onions, all picked that day. 
Vines grace the terraces around the hotel – around 900 of them, and the hotel will be producing its first wine next season. Guests this year can sample ripe Merlot grapes as part of the breakfast buffet. Eggs too are from the hotel’s own chickens - fresh and delicious. Because the hotel wants to be as self sufficient as possible it has its own organic farm – not large but hugely popular with guests who visit for lunch or dinner during their stay. This is also an opportunity to learn about the production of Amos Olive Oil – The hotel’s own pressing – served every day with dinner along with freshly baked bread and drizzled over ripe tomatoes from the garden at breakfast and lunch. Staying here is like staying in a garden – on your way to the tennis court in the morning one of the Dionysos team will be watering a great patch of aubergines and sweet corn by the tennis court. Sitting at breakfast you are surrounded by citrus, olives and tonight’s salad. Yes, there’s masses of all the usual luxuriant Mediterranean bougainvillea, oleander, hibiscus and lantana but this garden is more complete and more useful. The little card in our room telling us that Exclusive Escapes had made a donation to enable the planting of two trees to offset or Carbon Footprint from the flight might be a bit cheesy – but it certainly didn’t do any harm, and maybe was part of the feel good factor of this holiday. Does sustainability add value here at Dionysos? – Yes, it’s part of the overall image and a great formula.
Vines grace the terraces around the hotel – around 900 of them, and the hotel will be producing its first wine next season. Guests this year can sample ripe Merlot grapes as part of the breakfast buffet. Eggs too are from the hotel’s own chickens - fresh and delicious. Because the hotel wants to be as self sufficient as possible it has its own organic farm – not large but hugely popular with guests who visit for lunch or dinner during their stay. This is also an opportunity to learn about the production of Amos Olive Oil – The hotel’s own pressing – served every day with dinner along with freshly baked bread and drizzled over ripe tomatoes from the garden at breakfast and lunch. Staying here is like staying in a garden – on your way to the tennis court in the morning one of the Dionysos team will be watering a great patch of aubergines and sweet corn by the tennis court. Sitting at breakfast you are surrounded by citrus, olives and tonight’s salad. Yes, there’s masses of all the usual luxuriant Mediterranean bougainvillea, oleander, hibiscus and lantana but this garden is more complete and more useful. The little card in our room telling us that Exclusive Escapes had made a donation to enable the planting of two trees to offset or Carbon Footprint from the flight might be a bit cheesy – but it certainly didn’t do any harm, and maybe was part of the feel good factor of this holiday. Does sustainability add value here at Dionysos? – Yes, it’s part of the overall image and a great formula.
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