I love riding my motorbike through the countryside. Especially when the roads take you to hidden gems like these.
I’ve passed the sign for the Bee Shelter countless of times but never actually looked into it. I assumed it was a conservation area or something like that, but it’s actually a historic site of listed buildings, dating all the way back to the 1400s.
To get to the Bee Shelter you have to walk through the St Mary’s Church yard. Here you’ll find many old graves, some even dating back to the 15th century. The church yard also contains the chest tomb of Thomas Sloper, who died in 1703. What makes this tomb particularly interesting, is that the top of the chest is an engraving of his late wife, who passed in 1676. It’s amazing that after all this time the engraving is still in pretty good condition and has lasted through our harsh british weather.
Originally located in Nailsworth, the shelter was rescued from demolition and gifted to the Hartpury college in the 1960s. There it was reconstructed and moved to the grounds of St Mary’s Church where it resides today.
The cubby holes are called boles and the baskets are called skeps. There are 28 all together, which would of been space for 860,000 bees!
The UK is full of history and I feel very lucky to be able to ride twenty minutes and see something amazing. As much as I love to travel, it’s great exploring my own country as well… Whilst the weather is good any way!
THE BLOG OF TRAVEL 
What a fascinating place. Never heard of a bee shelter but what an interesting find. Love stumbling across places like Hartpury and especially the bee shelter and graveyard.
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Great post 🙂
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Love reading these little adventures of yours mate. Keep up the good work
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Thanks Fudgey, it’s good to hear from you 🙂 Weather permitting, we’re riding up to Amsterdam in September 😀
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Hi Emily,
It’s cool you are seeing home in more detail. Remember in the US you are on an adventure right outside your door. I am sute visa versa. May homey travels,
Gary
On Wed, Aug 14, 2019 at 9:20 PM The Blog of Travel wrote:
> Emily posted: “I love riding my motorbike through the countryside. > Especially when the roads take you to hidden gems like these. I’ve passed > the sign for the Bee Shelter countless of times but never actually looked > into it. I assumed it was a conservation area or som” >
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Bee shelter, that caught our eye right away, we are beekeepers (well David is, I am a helper bee). What a cool structure. We are just amazed by it. We use white boxes, not covered slots. Interesting.
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Save the bees!!!
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Love a good graveyard..especially ones dating back hundreds of years
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