Would you hire a holiday cottage that had a beehive in the garden?

[Scoutingforhoney]

Quite a big garden, beehive is a long way from house.

Personally it would put me off.

Wouldn’t bother me my grandad used to have them so I know if you leave them alone your fine

Maybe the answer is just info then - ‘the bees might swarm, just leave them alone and they’ll settle within [however long]’. It was just quite alarming having a huge noisy cloud of bees moving through a busy campsite.

We had a swarm in the garden recently, smaller and less scary as they were checking out some holes high up in next door’s house (they seem to have decided against moving in). I just laid in the hammock and watched/listened 🙂

Yes, or a number to call if they look like they’re planning to settle.

My daughter was once chased by wasps on a French campsite- that was terrifying. She suffered about 15 stings to her calf and heel. The site must’ve been used to it because they had a little vacuum chamber thing that pulled out the stings.

No way!

I have a bee/wasp/hornet phobia though so might not be the best person to ask this.

My worst nightmare would be one of them in the car while I am driving. I never ever wind the window down.

It would put me off. There's enough holiday cottages out there that we could just eliminate that risk and pick another.

Swarming isn’t a problem - they have their hives.

It suddenly feels like we have loads of information to include! It’s dog friendly, we have 2 and they’ve never had any issue with bees. Anyway the formal gardens are nearer the house so it’s possible to just stay away from them totally.

He’s busting a gut to get it all spick and span - that’s the thing about living all sort of pro-diversity - it isn’t always the neatest look but there’s plenty of pollinators.

We cleared loads of stuff last weekend, mostly beach gear which is currently in a store right next to a hive, so I’ll have to move that, and investigate fencing of some sort.

I'd be keen to know the details when it's ready. My parents would absolutely love this. They let a local beekeeper install hives in their orchard and I sometimes get some lovely honey!

Bees would be a plus point. My sons love them too (11 and 15) and would enjoy watching the bees doing bee things as a weekend passed in a haze of all the books and chilling.

I have kept bees for decades .. before kids and onwards. We also have chickens, cats and dogs.. as well as children throughout the time we have kept bees. It's just never been an issue. The kids started to help me when they were about three years old. (They looked super cute in their little new suits!)

Two of them keep bees themselves now. It's just not an issue.

It would make it more appealing to me! But I don’t have small inquisitive children or animals and none if us is allergic to stings (as well as being aware that bees really only sting as a last resort).

Okay, so now I need further details…. we like taking our telescope away with us. We live in London so awful light pollution and love to holiday where it’s properly dark.

Stargazing at night and bee watching during the day … sounds heavenly….

Oh we are less than an hour away, in Kent!

OP I really hope that when you are open for visitors that you paste the booking link on this thread. Please!!

I’d bloody love that! I love bees and love watching them.

I love bees. You leave them in peace and they’ll leave you in peace. Unlike wasps, who will sting you just for the sheer fuckery of it.
@Nagado wasps really don't sting "just for the sheer fuckery of it". I've had multiple close encounters with a couple of colonies and had no problems at all as I didn't flap or worry them. Behave the same as with bees and they're fine 🙂

It wouldn't put me off. It might even attract me as it's wildlife being allowed to do it's thing!
@Datafan55 managed/farmed honey bees kept in hives, lovely as they are, are not "wildlife" and "in some situations, beekeeping can have negative consequences for bumblebees (and potentially other pollinators) by increasing competition for food and by passing on diseases" according to the Bee Conservation Trust

My Gentleman’s bees are not farmed. Some are wild honey bees that have had to be moved from other areas. One lot moved into the medical secretaries’ office at the local hospital and made a nuisance of themselves until my chap liberated them and brought them home.

yes, as long as it's not part of the garden and in a spot that can't be hit by accident by a ball.

I hadn't considered that! - don't know too much about it.
But I was basing it on a friend of mine who keeps bees, as far as I know, responsibly, and also advises the local fb group on how best to treat swarms/arriving bees etc.
And OP says their bees aren't farmed.
OP, something for him to add to his literature, then!

@Scoutingforhoney and @Datafan55 when I said "farmed/managed" I meant kept by humans in hives rather than wild colonies. The Woodland Trust says "We have just one species of honeybee in the UK, identified by its slim, sandy thorax and black abdomen with golden-amber bands. Honeybees have been domesticated for centuries and it is rare to find a truly wild colony. Our honeybees now mostly live in hives of up to 20,000 individuals..."

Honey bees outgrow their colonies and will split and form a new one. This is when they swarm and try and find somewhere else. Unfortunately this can be in really unsuitable places near humans, and that's when beekeepers go, catch them, and add them to their hive collection. That doesn't mean they were "wild" as they were bred in a hive. It's like if chickens escaped from a British farm then were caught in the countryside, that doesn't mean their status changes to "native wild bird".

Anyway @Scoutingforhoney you asked if hives would put people off booking your cottage 🙂 For me it wouldn't, but I don't feel quite as enthusiastic about hives as I once did and much prefer seeing wild bees.

No, I wouldn't.

I think the key is that you need to be clear that they are there.
From this thread it would be a plus point for many MNers, but it would be horrific for me and I couldn't relax, which would obviously ruin the holiday.

Absolutely, I love bees (and we don't rent places that allow dogs).

Yes quite a few of the hives have black bees in them, the wild ones.

We talked about his moving them down to the very end of the garden and you can’t do that because apparently bees have to be moved 3 meters or 3 miles or something. Or they just go back to where they were, so they’re staying out for the time being. My chap is funny about them, he reckons they follow him, and even when we went on holiday a swarm appeared in the chimney stack of the house we were staying at.

I have spent the morning designing labels for all the trees in the orchard and the fruit bushes near the kitchen garden, with a “pick your own” vibe to it.

We also found 54 bottles of wine in the back of a shed when we were clearing it out. Most of it looks like it’s gone off, but I don’t suppose you can tell until it’s open. I think we should leave some for each guest with a “never leave wine undrunk for too long, life is too short!” Or something. Or is that a bit tacky?

Bee hives wouldn't bother me, but bee hives that are not regularly checked during the summer are absolutely at risk of swarming. A responsible beekeeper doesn't leave bees for months at a time. Bees swarm when they run out of space in their hive.

When can I move in?

This sounds idyllic and we holiday in kent a lot , I really hope you are allowed to post a link here when you start taking bookings . No issue with bees , we’ve had them arrive a few years and take up residence in our garden and have never had a problem with them . The joy of being able to pick your own fruit while you are there too . Sorry haven’t read the whole thread but I would definitely buy honey while I was there too if he either offered it as an add on to buy jars when you book or did some sort of honesty box arrangement while you were there .