News & insights / News / 01.09.25

The Bull Inn Launches a Unique Course in Regenerative Hospitality

We are thrilled to share that we’ve partnered with The Bull Inn in launching their new Level 3 Award in Regenerative and Sustainable Hospitality!

Developed in partnership with The SRA and the Apricot Centre, and with Hospitality Action on board as wellbeing partner, this is the first qualification of its kind in the UK. The Ofqual-recognised programme will provide hospitality professionals with the skills and knowledge to implement regenerative and sustainable practices throughout their operations.

The course aims to shape the next generation of hospitality leaders, giving them the tools to do business in a way that is environmentally restorative and socially just (exactly what The SRA is all about!). This is why both ‘sustainable’ and ‘regenerative’ are relevant terms: while sustainable hospitality is about doing no harm, the concept of regenerative hospitality goes even further. Regenerative hospitality means actively doing good — leaving places, people and the planet better off than when you found them. 

With the first cohort kicking off on October 16th, the course will be run one day per week over 12 weeks at Baddaford, The Bull Inn’s stunning 154-acre farm, not far from Totnes. Each week, learners will deep-dive into specific topics, from understanding food and farming systems in the UK to the practicalities of building and managing an ethical supply chain.

The hospitality sector has enormous power to shape our future food systems for better or worse; that’s why a course like this is so important, ensuring that the people who are stepping in to run F&B businesses in years to come are equipped and eager to do so in responsible, regenerative ways.

As Ned Burrell — Chef & Director of Knepp Wilding Kitchen — wrote in support of the launch, “Hotels and restaurants are not just service providers: they are influencers capable of shifting societal norms toward a more sustainable future. By taking bold action, the industry can lead the fight for a healthier planet. The new sustainability bootcamp, led by The Bull Inn team — themselves at the forefront of sustainability — is an exciting step forward for hospitality, helping to close the training gap around sustainability. I hope this will become essential training for all those who want to end greenwashing and bring about greater change for our planet.”

About the Regenerative and Sustainable Hospitality course

There’s no question in our minds that The Bull Inn is the right team to run this course; since its very earliest days, this pub has been pushing the boundaries of what it means to be a sustainable hospitality business.

“I’ve long admired The Bull and its exceptional team, who I know first-hand as genuine pioneers of regenerative hospitality,” said Juliet Kinsman, Sustainability Editor for Condé Nast and Founder of Mr & Mrs Smith. “Their commitment to ethical sourcing, circular systems and community-centred practices isn’t just admirable — it’s essential. They walk the talk, and their lived experience running one of the UK’s most progressive inns makes them uniquely qualified to share their knowledge with others.”

There is a fantastic line-up of partners, collaborators and guest lecturers taking part in delivering the course, all of whom have also contributed their time, knowledge, resources and expertise to developing the content. 

Guest lecturers:

Geetie Singh Watson, Founder of The Bull Inn 
Guy Singh Watson Founder of Riverford Organic Farmers 
Juliet Kinsman, Sustainability Editor for Condé Nast and Founder of Mr&Mrs Smith 
Debbie Warner, Founder of Wild Wine School
Philippa Roberts, Founder of Binit 
Stephanie Patterson, Employment Lawyer & Co-Founder of Ramsay Paterson

Other contributors:

Belmont Estate
University of Exeter (an organisation with a three-star Food Made Good Standard)
University of Plymouth (another three-star Food Made Good certified organisation!)
Rachel Phillips, Managing Director of The Apricot Centre 
Natalie Campbell MBE, Co-CEO of Belu Water 
Sustain
Pesticide Action Network UK
Vintage Roots
Hospitality Action
Devon Environment Foundation

What does the curriculum look like?

The course is broken into 10 modules, covering every aspect of what it means to operate a regenerative hospitality business.

What is Regenerative & Sustainable Hospitality? Why does it matter? This introduces participants to the fundamentals of sustainability and regeneration, and what these concepts mean for the hospitality sector. 
Introducing the Triple Bottom Line: Planet, People, Profit. Learners will unpack the concept of the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) and learn how to apply and assess regenerative and sustainable operations within the conventional framework of hospitality KPIs.

Supply Chains: Food Systems, Farming and Fishing. This unit will primarily focus on food and farming systems here in the UK, while also considering European and global trading partners. It will examine key interrelated issues, the scale and impact of food waste, food security and sovereignty, climate adaptation and the topic of carbon sequestration.

Managing a Sustainable Supply Chain: Supplier-Led Menus and Waste No Food. This unit will enable learners to understand how to create, implement and manage a genuinely sustainable food supply chain and how to tackle food waste head-on.

How to Green Your Bar. This unit will help learners understand the often-overlooked ecological impact of the bar industry.

How to Work Together to Humanise HR and Build Stronger Communities. This unit aims to explore the advantages and disadvantages of atomistic and conventional approaches to Human Resources and how community is vital to longevity and success.

Managing Resources: How Equipment Technology Can Help and Hinder. This unit will equip learners with the knowledge and skills to effectively manage resources throughout the business, including waste, water, energy and services.

‘Think Global, Act Local’. This unit will explore the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), also covering the basics of how carbon emissions are calculated and how they contribute to climate change and what that means for hospitality.

Marketing, Storytelling and Greenwashing. This unit explores effective strategies for building and marketing sustainability practices, addresses the risks of greenwashing and looks at the power of storytelling, truth and authenticity in sustainability marketing.

Business Planning. This final unit is when our students will turn everything they have learned during this course into a comprehensive and actionable business plan.

Essential information

There are only 12 places available on the first cohort. Thanks to Devon County Council and South Ham District Council, The Bull Inn is able to provide some full and partial bursaries. Please note that bursaries are only available for those living and working in Devon. 

The full price cost of the course is £2,450; this includes all teaching materials, qualification certificates, transport to and from Baddaford Farm, field trips and an end-of-course Supper at The Bull Inn, Totnes. 

Next year, The Bull Inn plans to run at least two more cohorts, with 12-16 participants in each. The next session will run from March to June 2026. They’re also exploring the option of other organisations hosting the course elsewhere, using the same materials; if this sounds like something you’d be interested in exploring, make sure to get in touch.

The Bull Inn will also be launching two other courses shortly:  

‘How to Green Your Bar’ is an in-person workshop, which will run at Baddaford Farm on November 19th and at Belmont Estate in Bristol on December 1st. Both sessions will run from 9.30am-4pm and cost £125. Lunch, refreshments and transport from Totnes by minibus is included. Spaces are limited. The Bull has a small pot of money to help support attendees who would not be able to attend otherwise.
‘Carcass Balance & Dairy: a Workshop for Chefs & Farmers’ will be a one-day, in-person workshop for chefs, general managers and farmers to learn how to manage complex, short supply chains in a way that is financially and operationally successful for everyone involved.  This will run on November 24th at Baddaford Farm fro, 9.30am to 4pm, also priced at £125.

About The Bull Inn

The Bull Inn is an organic, ethical pub and hotel in Totnes, Devon. Sustainability has been built into the very foundations of this values-led business from its earliest days. Here, customers experience remarkable, impeccably sourced food and wine served by a passionate, highly skilled team – demonstrating that ethical, human-centred businesses can be truly successful while delivering excellence in food, rooms and service.

Dining, trading and working at The Bull are guided by a set of ‘No-Bull Rules to Dine, Trade and Work By', a set of policies designed to be robust, rigorous and easily understood. These policies are publicly communicated and ensure that every decision is considered in light of its impact on their team, suppliers and community.

The Bull Inn was always destined to take the Food Made Good Standard; as Managing Director Phillipa Hughes said when speaking to us last year, “We believe in external audits – it’s one of our No-Bull Rules – so we had to practice what we preach! Our owner/founder, Geetie, has known about The SRA since its inception, so when we opened the pub, it was a no-brainer.”

The Inn has now taken the Standard twice, earning three stars on both occasions and reflecting an exceptional commitment to sustainability across the three pillars of Sourcing, Society and Environment. With a culture of continuous improvement very much at play, they also achieved a significant improvement in their score from the first assessment to the second.

Our Managing Director, Juliane Caillouette Noble, said, “We’ve long been cheerleaders of The Bull Inn and how they do business. Not only are they committed to running their own operations as responsibly as possible, but they are consistently finding new ways to broaden their impact, using their platform to create a ripple effect of positive change through their supply chain and their community, and now through this course. We’re proud to support The Bull Inn as they nurture a new generation of hospitality leaders who understand the incredible potential of this industry to drive real change — and we look forward to the day these future leaders can join us on our mission to build a hospitality sector that is both environmentally restorative and socially progressive.”

Find more information on the course at The Bull Inn's website.

You can read more about The Bull Inn’s laudable approach to business here; check out our Real Talk interview with founder Geetie Singh-Watson here (or watch the full interview here); or learn how they incorporate the principles of circularity here.