For the past ten years, Longueville Manor has allowed members of the public to walk in its woodlands, in what is commonly known as Swiss Valley.
Signs near the public footpath, called Le Val Aumé, which links Les Varines and Rue de la Fréminerie in St Saviour, invite walkers to use the woodland and meadow at the top end of its grounds, but ask that dog owners remove any dog mess.
On Monday, hotel owner Malcolm Lewis took to Facebook to express his frustration after four bags of dog poo were left near the business’s public entrance.
Writing on the Jersey Dog Forum page on Facebook, he said: ‘Longueville Manor loves dogs and for some time now has allowed owners to walk through the Swiss Valley woodland at the rear of the hotel.
‘We are, however, slowly losing our patience, as every day we have to pick up randomly discarded bags. Today, four were placed at our entrance in full view of our arriving guests! At this rate we may consider stopping all dog walkers!’
The hotel says it has to deal with similar incidents all the time and is reviewing its policy that permits public access to its grounds.
Mr Lewis said the last thing they wanted to do was stop people using the ‘magical woodland’, but that it was likely that the hotel would stop people using the adjacent meadow.
‘The last thing we want to do is stop people using it [the woodland], and we don’t want people to worry,’ he said.
‘So we’ll probably just restrict it to the woodland. It’s a lovely walk and we want people to continue to enjoy it, but the meadow is becoming a real problem.’
The hotel has a sustainability scheme, called New Leaf, which includes woodland management and provides an environment that encourages a flourishing ecosystem.
In the next few weeks a new hedge will be planted along a side road that links Longueville Road to the woodland to screen guests using the hotel swimming pool.
As a dog owner himself, Mr Lewis said he hoped the minority who do not pick up dog poo, or leave bags behind, would change their habits.
‘We accept dogs in the hotel. We welcome them and spoil them as we do our guests,’ he said. ‘And we are dog lovers and don’t want to ruin it for everyone, but there is always a minority who spoil it for others.’
