Beehives at Highgrove

I was honoured to be commissioned to design these beehives as a gift from Fortnum & Mason to HRH The Prince of Wales for his 70th birthday.   These photos were taken a year later and show the oak beginning to weather.  Eventually they will turn a beautiful grey.  Although they were designed as a group of three, the decision was taken to separate the hives due to the size of the swarms, in order to assure the safety of people visiting the garden.  The main Beehive was placed along the long yew hedge, and the others are in the wilder part of the garden.  Happily the bees seem very happy in all three hives.

The first drawing shows my initial concept of cladding standard hives, followed by 20 thumbnail sketches.  These sketches were submitted to Prince Charles, and he chose three designs, which I then developed in more detail.  The three detailed hive designs are shown in these pencil sketches, which were reproduced in an article about the project in the The Telegraph.

My final watercolour showed the three beehives together in the front meadow at Highgrove, where it was orginally planned they should be.

I knew nothing about the needs of bees, so worked closely with Highgrove’s Beekeeper, Steve Benbow of The London Honey Co., throughout to ensure that this crucial client group would be happy and productive in their strange new homes.  They needed the right light, ventilation, and a visible landing stage facing in the right direction!  And Steve needed to be able to collect the honey easily from the back of each hive, and to maintain the hives throughout the year.

The team I worked with on this project was outstanding. The hives were made by joiner Dave Gould of Coryndon Ltd, and the fabulous bronze bees, pineapple and acorns were all sculpted by Nick Coryndon.

This photo was taken just after delivery and assembly of the hives at Highgrove.  Steve, Dave and I are all looking – and feeling – mighty relieved.

The project generated quite a lot of media interest, including the Telegraph article below.