POLLINATION | RAW HONEY | SUSTAINABILITY

"Does your home or business need a beehive? Tony will install and manage a fully working beehive for you in a unique opportunity for businesses or individuals who are looking to increase their support for pollination and biodiversity. And you get your own delicious real, raw honey."

I'll always be a photographer but PLAN BEE is a long-term project aside from my photography and film work, where I install beehives for businesses and individuals who are looking to support our honey producing pollinators.

PLAN BEE adopts a natural beekeeping approach with a 'light touch', whereas far as possible, I allow my bees to live as they do in nature. This includes their environmental, genetic and management decisions. Where I can, I let the bee's decide what to do. We only have small bespoke apiaries with wooden and beeswax hives, we don't use chemicals or plastics.

Alice and I moved to Campions in North Essex in 2005 and started our smallholding project. Where we can, we live 'off the land', using as many natural, free range and organic resources as possible, to grow, source and cook natural, sustainable, seasonal food.

Since 2005 I've constantly expanded our smallholding permaculture project and we've produced some of the best rare breed organic pork, chickens and eggs, fruit and vegetables and most recently, bees and our own raw honey.

I will harvest you your very own raw honey and manage your beehive throughout the year. I take care of everything, PLAN BEE is an all inclusive service.

PLAN BEE’s partners include Chelmsford County Council, Holborn Studios, Noah's Ark Children's Hospice, Wivenhoe House Hotel, Cressing Temple Barns, St.Osyth's Priory, Seckford Hall Hotel, Ivy Hall Farm in Braintree and Bridge House Farm in Felstead, Mantle Estates in Bishop’s Stortford, Givergy, Lyons Hall and Lowleys Farm in Great Leighs and with many more to come in 2025.

We are also helping to reintroduce the native black honeybee that became almost extinct in the U.K into beehives across London and North Essex.

Honey bees have been around for over a 100 million years and have evolved perfectly. Each single bee is part of a perfect society, all working together as a living organism where each individual shows a selfless dedication to each other.

Everything they do has a single purpose; the survival of the colony and they carry it out with a relentless precision. They know they’re stronger together as a community and can achieve more than they can as individuals.

Honey bees are the only pollinator that produce honey that can be cultivated and managed, as all of our other native pollinators are wild. But they’re all threatened by the same problems; habitat degradation, pollution, pesticides, pathogens, changes in land-use and longer wetter, damper winters from climate change. The honey bee is also under attack from natural threats; the Varroa destructor mite, the Asian hornet and colony collapse disorder. But if we can save the honeybees environment, we can save all the others for free. And with all the difficulties honey bees face, I’m convinced that without beekeepers, as a species, the honey bee would be in big trouble.

PLAN BEE actively campaigns to preserve all our pollinators and needs your support. Prices for working hives are on a sliding scale, with discounts available for schools, colleges, care settings, and home gardens. Beehives with colonies can be bought, rented, sponsored or gifted with ongoing management of your hive and delivery of your own raw honey. And all PLAN BEE honey bee hives also come with solitary bee hives, to help protect our native wild pollinators, to help them safely lay their eggs for next season.

Having your own beehive is an excellent opportunity to contribute to supporting our critical pollinators and would make an excellent Christmas, birthday or anniversary gift. Drop me an email to discuss or to arrange a call or site visit.

PLAN BEE also provides an ethical honey bee swarm and colony removal service where no bees are harmed and the bees are safely rehomed, please get in touch anytime for a quote or site visit to tony@tonybriggs.com

PLAN BEE also provides bespoke pollination services where working beehives can be bought or rented seasonally. We take care of everything, For quotes and site visits please email tony@tonybriggs.com

PLAN BEE is a member of the British Beekeeping Association

You can follow PLAN BEE on Instagram

You can follow Tony Briggs on Facebook

News Articles:

"thremhall-park-welcomes-a-different-kind-of-community-a-step-toward-sustainability-and-education"

“We're excited to announce that Noah's Ark Children's Hospice is now home to some beautiful honey bees. Our roof garden hosts a beehive, providing a safe space for these essential and protected pollinators”

We had a wonderful morning at St Osyth Priory welcoming our new bees to the estate.

“The studios are literally buzzing this summer with the sound of our very own honey bees! Old friend of the studios Tony Briggs has set up PLAN BEE, a new project where he’s installing beehives for businesses to help with biodiversity and their own green footprint”

Biggest day of recruitment I have ever been involved in today! 40,000 new workers spread across two buildings with big ambitions of producing (liquid) gold!

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