Bentley Motors’ 120,000 bees have delivered their first honey harvest via two hives installed on-site in Crewe this May. The honey has now been extracted and will be shared with Colleagues and visitors.
The bees, who only took up residence at Bentley’s Crewe site in May this year, are proving to be every bit as productive as their human Colleagues – and are set to generate an impressive first harvest of over 100 jars of honey from just two hives.
The honeycomb has now been collected from the hives and is being extracted by Bentley’s beekeepers. This process involves each frame of honeycomb being spun in an extractor, after which the honey is carefully drained and filtered before being decanted into individual jars.
The jars and packaging will reflect Bentley’s famous attention to detail, incorporating a label created by Bentley interior designer Louise McCallum. This special touch means that in addition to sharing the honey with colleagues, the jars will also make unique gifts for VIP visitors to our site in Crewe.
Peter Bosch, Bentley’s Board Member for Manufacturing comments:
“We installed our first Bentley bee-hives earlier this year as a way to use our expansive site in Crewe to contribute to local biodiversity. Our beekeepers have seen the bees bringing in a wide range of pollens from the wild flowers we’ve planted on our site and the local countryside. This is a great sign that the location is working well and has helped make the first harvest so productive.
“Our Bentley bees are part of a wider programme we’re developing to ensure that our site and business operations reflect our ambitions to become the most sustainable luxury automotive manufacturer – and we’ve had great colleague engagement with the initiative.
“We’re delighted that the initial stage of this project has been a success and we’re looking at installing more hives and increasing the amount of Bentley honey we can produce next year. We know that every little step helps to support local biodiversity and we have plenty more ideas in the pipeline to make sure we’re playing our part”.