We're Buzzing at Sworders

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A little-known fact is that, while we at Sworders Fine Art Auctioneers get on with our day-to-day jobs, hidden around the site at Stansted Mountfitchet, we have two beehives that have been busily working throughout the year.

We're blessed to have our auction rooms nestled in an old quarry which, after fifteen years, has become a haven of wildlife, wildflowers, insects, and our resident rabbit and deer populations.  During the dark days of last winter, I constructed some bait hives, with the idea that a community of bees may also thrive around our site.

Come April, three bait hives were duly put in place and, just three days later, we were lucky enough to have our first swarm, helped no doubt by two fields of oilseed rape adjacent to our site. This was followed by two more swarms in the next three weeks although, with only a single queen, they were combined to get them going.

After a few more weeks of settling, the bees were then transferred into larger 100-year-old hives that I had spent the winter painting, repairing and making additional lifts, from ones that my father and grandfather used at home in Suffolk. After a slow start, both built up well, thanks to the abundance of pollen and nectar around the saleroom.

When high summer arrived, and it seemed that the bees had been extremely busy, having pretty much filled five supers (each with ten frames in).  After a team effort from a few intrepid colleagues in harvesting and collecting the honey, and an evening of de-capping and spinning, the 'amber nectar' settled and was jarred – with a Regency-inspired logo applied, thanks to our fabulous designers in the marketing team.

We thought it would be right to offer the jars of honey in return for donations, which went towards raising money for 'Young Lives vs Cancer', our charity of the year; and from our 2024 harvest, we raised over £300 - just incredible! We’re hoping that, both inside and outside our Stansted saleroom, all will be a hive of activity again in 2025 and, who knows, maybe there will be another opportunity for Sworders honey for tea.

Set to feature in our December Homes & Interiors sale: the ideal gift for any bee or honey enthusiast...

^{A George Jones majolica cheese dish and cover, modelled as a bee skep (sold for £3000 in our Homes and Interiors auction, 10 December 2024)}