The Keeper’s Lodge and The Bee Barn
Our humble beginnings in 2008 started at Kennington Park’s Keeper’s Lodge which was the home of BeeUrban until 2015.
With the support of Lambeth’s Parks department, we worked extensively to transform the unused garden and derelict outbuilding, carving out new growing beds, planting fruit trees, soft fruit, nectar-rich plants, herbs and flowers.
We added 10 hives on this award winning site and worked with Capital Bee to train a new generation of community beekeepers and provide ongoing mentoring, support and development.
We provided space for other apiaries to extract their honey using our equipment and facilities, and expertise!
We constructed a large timber outbuilding, The Bee Barn, which provided a space to facilitate our beekeeping operations. It was also used as an educational resource for beekeeping demonstrations and training sessions.
All the buildings were constructed with an ecological dimension – we had a living, intensively planted green roof, and had been built using sustainable reclaimed materials and plants.
All planting was designed to be nectar rich according to RHS (Royal Horticultural Society) and BBKA (British Beekeepers Association) guidance.
We also had an anaerobic digester and solar water heater from our work with Loo Watt and Imperial College. From the very start, we planned to increase and promote renewable energy sources.
