The house of artisan honey producer Bermondsey Road Bees has a reasonably candy inside (Image: Roost)
The tales of artisan honey producers Bermondsey Road Bees and a sleek four-storey warehouse conversion within the coronary heart of south London are inextricably intertwined.
Dubbed ‘Honey HQ’, the early Victorian former industrial constructing, at 103 Bermondsey Road, has been residence to among the capital’s most lauded hives for the previous 14 years, producing multi-award-winning, single-source unprocessed honey cherished by five-star lodges, Michelin-starred cooks and superstar bartenders.
And it began, says Sarah Wyndham Lewis — who with husband Dale Gibson is among the agency’s founders and homeowners of the constructing — with an impending midlife disaster.
‘Again in 2003, Dale was working within the Metropolis, I used to be working a profitable canine collar enterprise, and our sons, Matthew and Alexander, had been youngsters,’ Sarah says.
‘We had a superb interval residence in Hampstead, in north London, however I all of the sudden felt overwhelmed with the actual fact we had been approaching center age, and I didn’t need us to develop previous earlier than our time.’
Homeowners Sarah and Dale with their pug pet Moss (Image: Daniel Lynch)
You’ll be able to’t miss the putting former warehouse on Bermondsey St (Image: Roost)
What a tremendous area (Image: Daniel Lynch)
‘I wanted to make a change. So I put the home available on the market whereas Dale was on a enterprise journey in New York, and began house-hunting.’
Having satisfied Dale this was a terrific concept — ‘in all probability whereas he was nonetheless jet-lagged,’ laughs Sarah — she proceeded to view scores of various homes throughout London, however couldn’t discover one that basically impressed her.
Honey HQ could possibly be yours for £2.85m (Image: Daniel Lynch)
Massive home windows let in loads of pure mild (Image: Roost)
Sarah had at all times been curious in regards to the former warehouse (Image: Daniel Lynch)
‘I remembered that I had noticed this former warehouse on Bermondsey Road on the market, however had by no means truly gone to see it,’ she says.
‘As I actually didn’t know the realm, I made a decision it was my obligation as a Londoner to discover a brand new neighbourhood.’
The moment she walked into the slim, arch-topped 1860s constructing — famous by Sir Nikolaus Pevsner in The Buildings Of England, and with extraordinary skyline views from an enormous personal rooftop terrace — she knew this was the one.
The couple have a singular sense of fashion (Image: Daniel Lynch)
It’s a stunning, spacious property (Image: Roost)
‘It was like placing on an previous overcoat that feels so proper, and surrounds you with love,’ Sarah says. ‘The sunshine that crammed the constructing was unimaginable, and I knew I needed to have it. I instantly made a suggestion.’
Whereas she continued to run her canine collar enterprise from the big industrial area on the bottom ground and Dale stayed in finance, they gutted the two,700sq ft four-bedrom constructing — set in a conservation space as soon as on the coronary heart of London’s textiles and leather-based business — reworking it into their dream dwell/work area.
‘It had been used over time as bedsits, and was such a mish-mash, we stripped it again to its shell and began once more,’ Sarah says. ‘We didn’t need to give it a shiny, clearly new makeover. We wished its industrial previous to actually shine by means of.’
Uncovered brickwork has been painted white (Image: Daniel Lynch)
The workspace (Image: Daniel Lynch)
This meant portray the uncovered inside brickwork all through in a comfortable white, for an uncluttered gallery really feel, and promoting many of the furnishings from their final residence.
As an alternative, they purchased large armoires and four-poster beds for the primary and second-floor bedrooms, and barely battered-looking classic leather-based chairs for the 2 residing areas.
‘I wished all of it to look a bit bashed up and preloved,’ Sarah says. Her solely concession to polished finishes was within the third-floor kitchen, which she felt ought to look new and clear — she went for up to date white gloss cabinetry with stainless-steel trims.
Classic 4 posters and mist-matched vintage furnishings helped deliver the constructing again to its historic previous (Image: Daniel Lynch)
There are many quirky industrial touches (Image: Daniel Lynch)
Sarah and Dale cherished every thing about their edgy new south London residence — the vaulted ceilinged eating room had its personal second terrace with fabulous views, plus Bermondsey was on its strategy to turning into a foodie mecca — however in 2007, their residence underwent one more radical transformation.
As the home didn’t have a correct backyard, Dale had taken over an area allotment. Down there one Saturday, he turned entranced watching a bee feeding on damson blossom, and determined to ebook them each right into a ‘beekeeping expertise’, regardless of Sarah’s excessive allergy to bee stings.
Bermonsey St Bees took off after Dale turned the roof terrace into an apiary (Image: Daniel Lynch)
The fortunate bees who lived on the roof terrace had a unbelievable view of the Shard (Image: Daniel Lynch)
The place the bees keep (Image: Daniel Lynch)
Dale was hooked. He went on to do his formal beekeeper coaching and established eight hives, every housing about 70,000 bees on the top of summer season, on the principle roof terrace.
From there, he may chart the every day progress of the constructing of the Shard. Earlier than lengthy, the skyscraper’s Shangri-La Resort was serving Dale’s honey — praised by critics as being paying homage to summer season meadows, with hints of recent mint leaves — at breakfast.
In the meantime, in 2015, Michelin-starred chef Tom Aikens invited the couple to design the apiary at Soho Farmhouse, in Oxfordshire.
Preserving hives at residence has, after all, had its challenges.
Sadly, all that honey isn’t included within the sale (Image: Daniel Lynch)
‘Issues can get mucky for us city farmers,’ laughs Sarah, who describes her bees as her ‘gilded ladies’. ‘We’ve needed to change the stair carpets a number of occasions as they get so sticky and soiled. Plus, the paraphernalia that comes with maintaining bees is endless.’
Regardless of her love of their Bermondsey residence, Sarah is eager to have her personal backyard with lawns, in addition to area for a granny annexe, so has put Honey HQ available on the market for £2.85million.
‘It has been probably the most magical, life-changing place for us,’ Sarah says. ‘And I do know will probably be for its subsequent homeowners, too.’
Go to Knight Frank for extra data.
Understanding the bees’ wants…
Sarah warns beekseeping is turning into an ‘unsustainable hipster pastime’ Daniel Lynch)
Sarah, now a skilled honey sommelier and writer on all issues bees, can be a passionate business educator.
She is vocal in regards to the want for the newbie city beekeeping craze to cease. It has develop into an unsustainable hipster pastime, she cautions.
Extra: London
‘London has the densest inhabitants of honeybees in Europe, and illness charges have shot by means of the roof,’ she says.
‘I at all times say to those who it’s a bit like taking up a herd of cows — you simply wouldn’t do it with out specialist information.’
Sarah and Dale’s personal hives have now been moved from their roof terrace, with most of their bees now in about 90 hives throughout London — within the gardens of Lambeth Palace and former Docklands — and Essex and Hertfordshire.
Discover out extra at bermondseystreetbees.co.uk.
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