On The Move
Have you ever noticed that the plans you have don’t always work out the way you thought they would? For example, I found the perfect career when I worked in FMCG Brand Marketing and thought that was it, I was going to market food and drink products to people for the rest of my working life and have a wonderful time doing it, but then things change; what’s important takes on new meaning and plans are no longer valid.
When we moved from our beautiful but tiny 19th Century terrace house to our semi-detached home with bigger garden, surrounded by fields and wonderful neighbours we thought that was it…: we’d found our dream home and were going to spend the rest of our lives here. We’d not been here long when I started beekeeping; we know how quickly that escalated from one hive to 20 after a year! Because of this we extended the garden by renting some field from the farmer; and then I turned 40 and things changed again when I went self employed and started two businesses - a marketing consultancy and this one. Then the businesses grew and I worked harder than I think I’ve ever worked.
2020 started and the husband and I were chatting about the future of the business and the need for more room to expand and improve, we started looking at houses and thought it would be a good opportunity to find somewhere with an annex for my dad too. We found somewhere in the March and then we all know what happened.. COVID! A week after we put our house on the market we were thrust into lockdown 1.0 and a few weeks later our purchase fell through. Summer came and the house went back up for sale and we found two more houses, both of those fell through too but we had a buyer for our place and eventually in November came across what is about to become, in March, our new home.
So, we’re on the move and as plans never quite turn out exactly as you initially think we’re moving out of Essex and to South Norfolk! It’s further away than we had planned but we found a house that we couldn’t say no to and we thought we’d like a new adventure. Having been born, raised and lived in Essex I am looking forward to exploring new towns and villages, taking Marley for walks with new sniffs and meeting new people, I’m also looking forward to visiting farmers markets and new retailers and trying lots of new products (cake, I mean cake!) as we get to know our new area.
When we’ve told friends and family we’re moving to Norfolk the majority have been shocked and have remarked at how far away it is but the reality is our new place is only an hour north of Colchester and is right on the Suffolk/Norfolk border so it sounds further than it is. This also means I can keep some of my bees in Essex and continue to work with the lovely retailers that have been so supportive over the past couple of years.
The added bonus - the house is right next to a 100 acre wood; I wonder if I’ll spot Winnie the Pooh!!?
The Practical Stuff
I am anticipating there will be some questions around experiences, sponsored hives and where to buy the honey etc so I’ve put some answers below but feel free to email me directly if you have something specific you’d like to know.
The online shop will be closed for a couple of weeks whilst we move as I want to give you the best service possible and I can’t do that with a house full of boxes to jump over.
Bee experiences will now take place at a new location which is close to Bungay, it’s approx. 1hr north from where they’ve been taking place and there has been a disclaimer on the website for the past 3 months. We hope you will join us at the new location where the bees will all be buzzing and honey and cake plentiful. Both group and private experiences can be booked now so please email me to confirm your spot.
Sponsored hives - whether you’re one of our corporate or personal sponsors your hive will be moving with us so there’ll be lots to update you on in your next email which will be in the Spring. New sponsorships will also have their hives at the new house.
Retailers; I am hoping to keep working with the current retailers that stock our honey and home products as I will continue to keep some bees in Essex to produce local honey. The “where to buy” section of the website will be kept up to date if things change with anyone.
Swarm collections in Essex; if you find a swarm of honey bees this Spring / Summer you can try contacting me as I may be around tending my Essex hives or visiting with friends but you can also look at the BBKA website who have a list of swarm collectors in your area.
I’m so excited to take you on this next adventure with us. Once we’ve settled in I have plans for the future - but we know how they go so I won’t share my ideas just yet, you’ll just have to keep in touch ;-) .
Here’s a peek at the new apiary.. more will be revealed soon.
