Baillie Lodges works to enrich our team members, our local communities, and our guests, with purposeful growth, conscientious stewardship, and genuine and re-energising connection to unique landscapes, peoples, and cultures.
Sustainable Luxury at The Louise
South Australia’s Barossa Valley was first settled by Bavarian expatriates in the 1840s who arrived in the region with vine clippings in hand, ready for planting in the style of their European homeland. Seven generations on, the Barossa boasts a fascinating legacy reflected in the Euro-Australian blend of culture, community, winemaking and dining. The people who live, work and create in the Barossa make up a rich, diverse and close-knit tapestry that makes the region such a warm and rewarding place to visit.
The broader Baillie Lodges’ commitment to sustainable luxury travel is best expressed by the lodges’ interactions with their natural environment, the local community and its culture. The protection and preservation of each lodge’s natural and cultural surroundings is a firm priority. The Baillie Lodges’ approach to sustainability is essential to lodge operations both to ensure the well-being of the destinations in which it operates and to enhance the guest experience.
Natural Environment
Dynamic environmental management plans for each Baillie Lodges property embrace advanced and emerging technology and work alongside initiatives by local organisations including government agencies, national parks and conservation sanctuaries, ensuring all operational activities are in line with each region’s broader conservation goals. At The Louise, this includes offering guests informative and rewarding interactions with nature, including breakfast with ‘the locals’, the kangaroos who thrive in the nearby sanctuary.
Local Community
Active engagement with local communities includes establishing supportive supplier relationships with food and drink producers, local artists and designers as well as supporting local charities, education initiatives, community events and work experience programs. This is especially so at The Louise which operates as part of a very close-knit, creative and mutually supportive community.
Culture & Heritage
Baillie Lodges provides guests with a chance to connect with the culture and heritage in the destination in which each lodge is located. This encompasses all aspects of the lodge experience, from the design to food and drinks and suggested locally operated guest tours. At The Louise, guests are offered a real chance to connect with the community, its food and wine produce and vibrant artworks.
People
Baillie Lodges’ own team of people is its greatest asset, and the company carries a ‘family’ style culture with a commitment to the long-term development, retention and wellbeing of every member of its team.
Commitment to the Natural
Environment
A dedicated approach to best managing the natural environment is essential to the Baillie Lodges guest experience, to the ongoing appeal of the destination and to sustainable business in experiential tourism. A comprehensive Environmental Management Plan at The Louise steers all strategies relating to environmental conservation.
• Essential to the vision are initiatives designed to conserve energy via smart measures and technologies including LED lights and timers.
• The Louise takes a holistic approach to managing its impact on the natural environment. Engagement with local suppliers based within 100 kilometres provides around 85% of the ingredients served in the restaurant which results in reduced carbon emissions as well as significant economic return to the local community of farmers, producers and growers, helping to keep local family businesses viable.
• All produce used in The Louise’s menus is non-GMO and sourced from producers practising traditional, sustainable methods of farming, with as much as is available sourced from producers using organic or biodynamic methods.
• Water conservation and recycling is an imperative for South Australians. Drinking water served throughout The Louise is filtered, collected rainwater. For sparkling water, the restaurant carbonates the filtered rainwater, rather than relying on bottled water, thus reducing landfill and carbon emissions.
• Paper and glass recycling is almost a religion at The Louise. A thriving worm farm recycles organic waste from the kitchen and provides rich fertiliser for the grounds, while also minimising waste removal from the property. A wastewater treatment plant recycles all wastewater for use around the grounds and gardens.
• Much of what appears on the lodge’s daily changing menus is harvested from The Louise’s own kitchen garden, just metres from the restaurant. The kitchen team grows singing fresh greens, herbs and vegetables, hand-picking ingredients as they reach their very best potential, making a very short journey from garden to plate.
• The Louise has dedicated electric vehicle charging stations, making a leisurely selfdrive through wine country even more convenient while helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, air and water pollution and vehicle noise.
• A dedicated policy of working exclusively with local builders and tradespeople, and to recruiting lodge staff from the region as a first preference is another way to ensure the local community is engaged and its economy sustainable.
Commitment to Culture & Heritage
A key philosophy that underpins the guest experience at The Louise is the connection with the region’s landscape, heritage, wildlife and culture.
• For generations, the close-knit Barossa community has nurtured the success of its artisan makers and artists, musicians and writers. A short distance from The Louise, a swag of wonderful galleries, studios and cultural centres is waiting to be explored, from First Nations collections to the Jam Factory and Wonderground, all within an easy drive. Back at The Louise, vibrant artworks commissioned from local artists Emma Hack, Janelle Amos, Renee de Saxe and Tanya Wales are seen throughout the main lodge and guest suites, creating a real sense of the place and its people.
• The Marananga Suite has a lovely connection to the Barossa region’s First Nations Peramangk and Ngadjuri people who refer to the tiny, creekside valley as ‘Marananga’.
Commitment to Local Community
The Louise actively engages with the broader Barossa community and in particular with a network of small-scale producers and businesses, providing a veritable boost to the local economy as well as a homegrown identity.
• Around 85% of ingredients served in Appellation and Contour is sourced from the community with much of the produce arriving at the kitchen door by the crate, box or bushel. At breakfast, guests might enjoy Mehl sourdough crumpets topped with honey made by the beekeeper students in the Livestock Club at Nurioopta High School. Later, there’s cheese and crackers from the Barossa Valley Cheese Company in the in-suite bar, locally cured meats in the Silesian/Barossa style on offer in Contour and on Sunday nights Appellation features a family-style roast, championing the bounty of local seasonal ingredients.
• The Barossa Farmers Market in Angaston is a long-established community hub that can be seen as a ‘living grocery store’ with farmers staffing stalls and personally selling their produce each week or as it’s available. As one local put it, ‘The story of the Barossa is something you can reach and out touch at the farmers’ markets.’ Each Saturday morning, around 50 vendors set up stalls to showcase their fresh, seasonal produce. Guests can choose artisan breads, butter-rich pastries, freshly farmed venison, mushrooms in witchy shapes, delicious cheeses and vegetables with earth still attached. The Louise’s chefs regularly hit the market on a Saturday to pick-up just harvested ingredients for its daily-changing restaurant menus.
• The beverage selection in general at The Louise is skewed to showcase local, and more broadly South Australian suppliers.
• The Louise employs many staff who reside nearby or in neighbouring hamlets and employment opportunities for the community are ongoing.
• The Louise supports local initiatives and events like the Barossa and Marananga Wine Shows and the Seppeltsfield Road Business Alliance. The Louise also supports social organisations like the Barossa Foundation and the Adelaide chapter of the Starlight Children’s Foundation.
Commitment to People
Baillie Lodges recognises its people are its greatest asset and is committed to the longterm development and wellbeing of its staff. Baillie Lodges encourages all team members to personally engage in the business and empowers them to take ownership of the delivery of exceptional service.
Baillie Lodges encourages team member development and growth and team members often transfer between lodges to advance their personal and professional development and enjoy a new destination.
The Louise team is small and close-knit, attracting hospitality professionals from far and wide to create a remote family. Some of the ways that Baillie Lodges embraces, develops and cares for its people include:
• Baillie Lodges believes in investing in the broader Australian tourism industry by training new recruits, recruiting hotel school trainees and offering opportunities for staff development including chef apprenticeships and individual scholarships.
• The Baillie Lodges team is an integral part of the lodge experience and is encouraged to establish a warm rapport with guests. The team doesn’t wear name badges, instead introducing themselves personally to each guest.
• Baillie Lodges ensures the team is regularly recognised for its dedication, with feedback including shared guest comments and monthly awards for outstanding team members, showcasing team success stories in marketing materials and bonuses on the anniversary of employment.
Creating Connections
Getting involved in sustainable initiatives at Baillie Lodges is a wonderful way for guests to positively contribute to each lodge’s local environment and community, offering a personal connection and creating lasting memories. Guests visiting The Louise – and other Baillie Lodges properties – actively support locally owned businesses and other services and thereby have a positive impact. Guests can get more involved by:
• Acquiring as much information as possible before leaving home about the natural environments on the itinerary: the national parks, conservation sanctuaries, the community and its culture, local standards and values.
• Considering supporting programs and organisations that are working to protect the welfare of the local culture and environment and protect it for future generations.
