Like the 2,000 employees at the Home of Rolls-Royce, the bees
are responsible for producing a rare and desirable product.
At the end of each season, ‘The Rolls-Royce of Honey’ is
meticulously hand‐processed by local specialists and served
to guests of the marque, including customers commissioning
their motor cars in the company’s Atelier suite.
The Apiary project is Rolls-Royce Motor Cars’ response to the
real and present threat facing Britain’s Honey Bee population.
Honey Bees are the principal pollinators of numerous tree and
plant species, including many of the fruit and vegetable crops
that are crucial to the local agricultural economy around the
Home of Rolls-Royce. However, a shortage of suitable forage,
primarily caused by habitat loss, has put their numbers under
great and growing pressure in recent years.
Residents and businesses within the National Park boundaries
are also being encouraged to get involved through initiatives
such as planting wildflowers in gardens and grounds.
“The Apiary further underlines our commitment to the
environment, which informs everything we do at Goodwood,”
says Richard Carter, Director of Global Communications at
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. “Our sustainable buildings, thermal
ponds, rainwater management systems and wildfowl refuge
have already made the Home of Rolls-Royce at Goodwood
one of the UK’s most eco-friendly manufacturing facilities.
Through this project, which taps into the biodiversity of our
site, including our huge living roof, we’re making an important
contribution to conserving Britain’s vital bee population.”
The South Downs National Park, on the doorstep of the Home
of Rolls-Royce, mirrors this national trend. Chalk downland,
which supports pollinators including honey bees, bumblebees
and the Adonis blue butterfly, now accounts for just four per
cent of the National Park’s total area, in fragmented pockets that
make it harder for pollinators to move through the landscape.
Through providential timing, the creation of the Apiary gave
an early boost to a new South Downs National Park Trust
campaign to address this critical problem.
The Bee Lines initiative supports farmers and landowners in
creating new flower-rich ‘corridors’ to link areas of habitat and
help bees and other pollinator species to thrive.
Rural Life | 13