Yes, we know the advent calendars have only just gone up, but as we’re into December proper we feel we can now utter the word ‘Christmas’…
Here’s a round up of some of our favourite ideas for Christmas gifts, all of which are likely to add a little contemporary and colourful style into your garden. Read the rest of this entry »
We are very pleased to have embarked on some co-branding with Seedball which is part of Project Maya (their aim is to provide meadowland in urban spaces throughout the world! Inspiring!).
We published this picture of Brian, our Potter, at his workshop in Stoke on Trent on our Facebook page and got a lot of “likes”. Everyone likes a happy face! He’s a fantastic potter running a family business with a real passion for producing good pottery. Read the rest of this entry »
It’s been a strange year from the bees perspective! There they are working their socks off and producing a load of goodies for us humans and they read in the Bee Times that we have lifted restrictions on pesticides that have been linked to their “genocide”. Thanks a bunch! Then evidence emerges that even organic pesticides can be harmful to them! Good grief! What kind of world is this they wonder where insects that do so much good are treated with such distain! Then they look at the other Times and think goodness, it isn’t just us, they try and destroy each other too! I’m making light of some serious problems, but oft a true word said in jest!
Luckily the forces for hope and optimism are incredibly strong so we continue to do what we can to ensure humanity and common sense prevail.
This is the time of year when many, many people show their generous and caring side and we often enter the new year with a renewed desire to make changes to body size, fitness, general consumption and to the world. And what a glorious, fantastic world it is despite the challenges!
A lot of people will receive beepalaces for Christmas and maybe some of them possibly will read this!
If you have received a beepalace for Christmas then someone special thinks you are too and thinks or knows that you will appreciate one of the most amazing wonders of nature that can be found on your doorstep, as well as knowing you appreciate design and style!
Your beepalace will allow you to get very close to the fascinating world of the solitary bee – a bee that can be 80 times more productive than a honey bee, plus it doesn’t sting or swarm – a benign, hard working creature that we need to sustain our world.
We hope you enjoy your gift and that if you are unfamiliar with this aspect of the natural world you will be stimulated to find out more about it and to encourage the education of others. We hope also that you will use it as it is also intended, as an eye catching piece of garden architecture.
We will close for Christmas until mid January and would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Peaceful New Year!
Spring has been a little hit and miss but we have seen very high levels of activity in the garden. When we have learnt how to post a video we will share some very lively clips! Can anyone help? It’s an age thing!
We attended the Firle Garden Show since I wrote here last. It was very disappointing. Hidden away in a cavernous marquee with a mish mash of stalls it isn’t an experience we want to repeat. All the stallholders were good company but the crowds we were expecting did not materialise. A great shame as Firle is such a lovely spot. Nevertheless two nights at The Rose Cottage Inn, Alciston went some way to make up for it, tho Nicks stay at the Hilton, Eastbourne wasn’t quite the Park Lane experience he had been hoping for!
The title of this piece is taken from an article by Luke Johnson (serial entrepreneur) in the Sunday Times. He talks about old craft skills being revived in Britain and “a hunger for real products and a rejection of a disposable culture”. We wholeheartedly support this. The beepalace is made in Stoke-on-Trent and is entirely made in England. It should last a lifetime (unless dropped from a height). It comes at a cost because a lot of time goes into making one. From the model and moulds required for it to be slip cast and glazed to it being hand assembled. It is time consuming and we have sourced what we think are the best quality materials (Kew Gardens share the same nesting tube maker that we use).
Britain has a long tradition for making quality goods. Things that are thought through and designed to look beautiful and to last. We are really proud to be part of this movement.
You may have seen Nick driving our natty van around the Hampshire highways and bye ways – if you see it be sure to give him a toot – that should keep him awake!
There are some new colours we have added to the range of beepalaces which we hope will go with most types of outdoor spaces. Sage and Ochre are proving very popular.
Our next Garden Show is at Stansted Park 5-7 June. We hope we might see you there!
Early in the year things are quiet on the nesting front and whilst we are busy preparing the new stock for the Spring, we much prefer the warm weather and the buzz of the bees. Even to-day when we were expecting the solar eclipse and what an amazing experience that would be – it was just another grey overcast day!
Our new nesting tubes have arrived and as well as providing a better combination of tube sizes for bees to chose from they allow us to pack the beepalaces more tightly and they look even better!
The reaction we have had from people seeing the beepalaces has been fantastic. There is a huge amount of work to be done to explain the importance of solitary bees to our food supplies and our general well being and the beepalace is a wonderful vehicle to help do this.
We were particularly pleased when Alitex (www.alitex.co.uk), a very established maker of Conservatories and Greenhouses expressed interest in having one in their garden. Alitex, a near neighbour of the beepalace,based just outside Petersfield have an outstanding reputation and work closely with The National Trust and The Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew so we are extremely chuffed that they are going to blog about the beepalace they have recently hung up. We have given it a head start by inserting some full nesting tubes from last year – in a month or two we should see some action!
This is a picture of Sam Duke from Alitex taking the first picture of their new beepalace – she will be blogging and tweeting about their experience of it. Thanks Sam!
Thanks also to Mandy at Wild Damson in Petersfield (www.wilddamsom.co.uk) for suggesting we contacted Alitex and also for letting us have some space for the beepalace in her incredibly busy shop.
The new colours should be arriving next week just in time for the Garden Shows we are attending, the first one being at Firle Place, Firle, near Lewes BN8 6LP 24 – 26th April. Its a ovely part of the country with a great pub and superb walks – in case you want a change from looking at gardening products. Charleston House, home and retreat to some of the “Bloomsbury Set” is a short distance away – in case you want a change from the pub and walking.
Chris Evans was talking about solitary bees on his BBC2 morning show recently – solitary bees will be coming out of the woodwork!! Yes, quite literally!
Happy new year!! It’s never too late!
The beepalace team are planning a busy and exciting 2015.
Nick and family are back from Oz from where he posted some nice pics on Twitter. We were in India where the only reference to bees we saw was that the Hindu god of love is always accompanied by parrots, bees and a warm breeze.
But reading a little bit about bees in India it comes as no surprise that they are under threat. The Times of India reported a while ago that the decline in bee activity might be a worrying result of mobile phone usage :
“Frighteningly for India, the crisis (in the decline of the bee population) may now just be hitting home. Kerala has recorded a similar phenomenon (loss of bees), as have other parts of the country. But what’s causing this bizarre natural phenomenon could have something to do with the way you talk. Researchers investigating the trend say radio frequency radiation RFR) emitted by mobile phones and towers is the real culprit.”
Also, the Indian rock honey bee, the largest honey bee in the world, is reportedly in decline. These bees are particularly sensitive to air and noise pollution, so their decline can be seen as another casualty of modern living. But at least there is research into these issues so we can hope that there will be solutions forthcoming.
The beginning of the year is a time to check stock and prepare for the Spring. Brian, our amazing Potter from Stoke is preparing some new samples of green and yellows and we are also looking at an aubergine glaze. We hope to have some more great colours to offer customers this year.
We are also going to provide a slightly wider range of nesting tubes in each beepalace. We hope this will encourage more nesting activity and we can continue to monitor the success rates for various tube diameters in order to continue to provide the best nesting place for solitary bees.
We are greatly looking forward to a busier fair schedule in 2015 that currently includes:
Firle Place (April 24-26) – at the foot of the South Downs near the fascinating Charleston House, home to some of the Bloomsbury set
Stansted Park (June 5-7)
Loseley Park (July 24-26 July) – just south of Guidlford on the A3
Weald and Downland Open Air Museum (14-15 November) – a brilliant place for a day out
Stansted Park Christmas Fair (November 21 -22)
Petersfield Christmas Fair (December 6)
Plus we hope to be at Longstock again and at South Harting festivities and a few more venues to be announced.
Whilst the bees are sleeping the birds are feeding – here are some outside the beepalace offices yesterday:
Red mason bees nest in a green beepalace. The full tubes contain up to 10 larvae making this a home to about 170 solitary bees (it takes approx 250 to pollinate an acre of orchard!)
A group of 5 red mason bees begin nesting in a beepalace.
The tubes which look sealed are the ones which have had up to
10 red mason bee larvae laid in them.
