Honey from… Rolls-Royce? Bees don’t stop producing

When asked: what would you prefer from Goodwood? The local cars – Rolls-Royces – or the local honey, the answer seems only seemingly easy. This is because honey is really exceptionally tasty.

Protecting an endangered but critical species goes hand in hand with Rolls-Royce’s comprehensive vision and environmental action. An important impulse is support for the “Bee Lines” campaign, which aims to stop the extinction of bees in southeast England and create a refuge for pollinators in the South Downs National Park.

Although car production at Goodwood has been temporarily suspended, the home of Rolls-Royce continues to produce another uniquely British good: the most exclusive honey in the world.

The company’s apiary was established three years ago and now employs 250,000 people. bees to produce even more Rolls-Royce Honey this season. English honeybees have survived the winter in perfect health and now fly over half a million trees, shrubs and wildflowers on Rolls-Royce’s 42-acre site and the plant’s eight-acre “living roof” – the largest of its kind in the UK . Adventure-seeking bees venture out further to the nearby Goodwood Estate, where the 12,000-square-meter acres of West Sussex countryside is one of the gems of the South Downs National Park.

The Goodwood apiary, established in 2017, has 6 traditional wooden hives, each decorated with a polished steel plaque created in the Bespoke workshop. Five beehives are named after models from the Rolls-Royce product family – ‘Phantom’, ‘Wraith’, ‘Ghost’, ‘Dawn’ and ‘Cullinan’ – while the sixth ‘Spirit of Ecstasy’ is named after the famous figurine.

Bees are responsible for producing a unique and desirable product. At the end of each season, “The Rolls-Royce of Honey” is harvested by local specialists and served to the brand’s guests, including customers who order their cars at Atelier.

“Operating the apiary further highlights our commitment to protecting the environment, which influences everything we do at Goodwood,” said Richard Carter, communications director at Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. – Our sustainable buildings, use of hot spring energy, rainwater management system and creation of a sanctuary for wild birds already make our factory in Goodwood one of the most environmentally friendly. Through this project, which supports biodiversity on our site, including a giant green roof, we are joining efforts to recover bee populations in the UK.