Chessington Garden Centre

BEEHIVES

AUDIO FILE

Welcome

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CHESSINGTON GARDEN CENTRE

BeesMAX at Chessington Garden Centre

BeesMAX successfully installed the first live colony of bees at Chessington Garden Centre on February, 2023, supporting the crucial rehoming programme from BeesMAX. BeesMAX are very grateful to Chessington Garden Centre for going the extra step and embracing the whole BeesMAX ethos.

GETTING INVOLVED

The hive at the garden centre

Since the original installation the BeesMAX honeybees at Chessington Garden Centre the location has become a really important feature on the BeesMAX calendar and we’d like to thank all the staff who have championed this through to completion.

There is so much that can be learned by adults and children going the distance and putting on specialist beekeeping PPE and observing the interior of a colony.

Contact BeesMAX

Further Information

BeesMAX have organised some exciting beekeeping events to be held at a variety of locations where BeesMAX has hives located. Contact BeesMAX below if you’d like to be informed of all their upcoming events.

GETTING INVOLVED

Upcoming Events

Contact BeesMAX below if you’d like to be informed of all their upcoming events at Chessington Garden Centre.

Buying Chessington Honey

Every pot of Chessington Garden Centre honey sold raises money that goes directly back in to support the rewilding project.

Contact BeesMAX

Want to be involved?

We very much want to spread the word and increase the number of rewilding hives across the UK. Please do contact us if you’d like to find out more.

An insight into our bees

Insights and Research from the BeesMAX hives.

Using garlic and allicin as a chemical free beekeeper

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Bees can be calm and careful how they walk on you

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Chemical Free Beekeeping

Applying natural remedies that can be easily found in the environment can significantly reduce the [...]

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Video Playlist

Click the ‘hamburger’ icon on the top right of the video below to see all videos in the playlist.

Photo Gallery – Chessington Garden Centre

Click to enlarge.

Four people in beekeeping suits posing happily on wooden steps in front of beehives, showcasing their readiness for beekeeping activities

Team of Beekeepers Ready for Action at the Hive Site.
A tree surgeon in safety gear working at height on a tree trunk with the assistance of a mechanical lift.

Tree maintenance in progress, with a skilled arborist at work.

Three people in beekeeping suits standing next to a banner promoting corporate well-being and environmental renewal through beekeeping.

Teamwork for Sustainability: Corporate Employees Engage in Beekeeping for Environmental Well-being

Watch OUR LIVESTREAM

This beehive camera shows a live stream of the honeybee colony every day, 24 hours throughout the year.  Notice the clock inset displaying UK local time. Even at night the honeybees can be seen resting but still moving around.

Viewing the livestream

Get in touch

There are various facilities for you to use so please explore the time lapse clips on the left side bar. Expand to view full screen by first hovering over the bottom bar and then clicking various on the bottom right-hand side.

Latest

Over the winter this honeybee colony has survived very well and you can see several thousand in the cluster beginning to organise themselves to initiate spring breeding. The queen will probably start to lay eggs in early March.

BeesMAX and Arnia IT

Arnia is a company, like BeesMAX, concerned with bee health, but from a more technical standpoint. They have developed technology that goes into a hive and records data that is sent back to the beekeeper.

A graph showing information from the arnia system inside a honeybee hive, including the changes of the weight of the hive across a month, with the option to also see the temperature of the hive.

Arnia IT inside a hive

Sensors are fitted inside the hive in order to monitor the colony’s behaviour and these statistics are then sent, via a gateway, to the user’s devices, allowing them to better understand their own bees. The data collected can be compared across different hives using the same technology.

Our mission

So why Arnia?

The Arnia system opens up a whole world of educational opportunities and provides a more in-depth experience.

It is unique in combining colony acoustics monitoring with brood temperature, hive humidity, hive weight and apiary weather to provide detailed insight into hive conditions and bee behaviour. No other system provides this richness of data.

Our team
Arnia monitoring system attached to battery inside the wooden honeybee hive.

The Arnia IT system in action

Through the use as part of our Honeybee Rewilding Scheme, we aim to provide depleted wild colonies with a new habitat in which the bees can reorganise and restructure. As well as placing these in woodland areas, they also offer schools, individuals and businesses the opportunity to install hives on their sites to support the rewilding of our honeybee colonies.

Host A Hive

How to support Chessington Garden Centre’s honeybee conservation

There are a number of ways friends of Chessington Garden Centre can support the school hives with the honeybee rewilding conservation project. Take a peek below and let us know how you’d like to help.

Join An Event

Join an event hosted by Chessington Garden Centre and learn about the urban rewilding project at the garden centre.

Contact BeesMAX

BeesMAX Honey

Every pot of BeesMAX honey sold raises money that goes directly back in to support the rewilding project.

Contact BeesMAX

Host Your Own Hive

Hosting your own hive will help us build the conservation corridor to help support our bees. Help us increase the number of conservation hives.

Find out more

Contact BeesMAX

Contact us for further information about hives at Chessington Garden Centre, upcoming events, or hosting your own hive.