HIVER EXPERIENCES
BEEKEEPING EXPERIENCES AROUND THE uk
The Hiver Experience provides the opportunity to get hands on beekeeping as well as learn more about how we can all support bees and pollinators. We like to relax over a beer or cider, so all of our experiences include a tasting too.
Below, you will find information about our three Experience locations (as well as our workshops & VIBee sessions), how to buy a ticket or redeem your voucher and an FAQ section to help with information for the big day, like 'What should I wear?'.
CHOOSE YOUR LOCATION
Albourne Estate Vineyard, Sussex Downs
£65.00 pp
Set deep in the glorious Sussex countryside and just 8 miles from Brighton, our Sussex partner site, Albourne Estate vineyard, is a leading producer of English wine.
Our Sussex beekeeping experience is the perfect way to unwind while enjoying views of the Sussex Downs before your Hiver beer and honey tasting.
If you'd liketo make the most of your day then why not also enjoy a guided, small group tour of the vineyard before or after your beekeeping experience? You can also pick up a picnic to enjoy at the boat house or take a tipple overlooking the south downs in the winery bar too. To find out more about the vineyard and tours head to the Albourne Estate website here and book your Hiver Experience below.
Kennington, London
£58.00 pp
Join us urban beekeeping in central London! Nestled in Kennington Park, a short walk from Kennington or Oval tube stations, our urban aviary is a haven for bees and people alike.
We're proud to deliver our London Experience at Bee Urban, a social enterprise that use beekeeping to fund their community work.
Why note make the most of your day by heading to our Bermondsey Taproom afterwards and enjoying the best of London's foodie scene, Maltby St food market or Borough Market. Street-parking also on site.
Greyfriars Vineyard, Surrey Hills
£65.00 pp
The Greyfriars Vineyard, in the beautiful Surrey Hills, produces world-class, English sparkling wines. The location of this family run vineyard is the perfect spot for foodies & nature lovers.
After your Hiver Beekeeping & Beer Experience, enjoy a self guided tour around the vineyard, or a 5-star reviewed tutored wine tasting. Grab a charcuterie board and head to the outdoor bar, overlooking to Surrey Hills or go the whole hog's back with our full day Ultimate Experience - the best of Hiver and Greyfriars combined.
To find out more about things to do at greyfriars and in the Surrey Hills, head here and book your Hiver Expereince below.
THE ULTIMATE EXPERIENCE At greyfriars vineyard
£120.00 pp
Join us at our newest partner site, the idyllic Greyfriars Winery in the Surrey Hills, for the VI-Bee treatment! An ultimate day of bees, wines, beers and vines, with a lunch of local cheese and charcuterie added in for good measure!
It’ll be a foodie and nature based day out to remember.
Honey Harvesting Workshop
£25.50 pp
Get hands on in this honey extraction workshop. Our expert honey harvester will guide you as you uncap, extract and pack your very own jar of raw honey fresh from the hive. Throughout you’ll learn more about bees, honey, hive bi-products and beeswax all while trying samples of delicious honey beer too! Bee prepared to get hands on - this mini honey harvest is the best experience for honey lovers and bee enthusiasts.
Hiver Experiences Gift E-Voucher
£19.00 - £120.00 pp
Our Gift E-Vouchers make the perfect gift, whether it's for the beer or the bee lovers, or both! Choose from our range of experiences to get your loved one a BEErilliant gift.
All vouchers are valid for 9 months.
What's included in a hiver experience?
Whether for a foodie, beer or bee lover, the Hiver Experience is a memorable gift that never fails.
- Learn about the make up of a beehive & the bee life cycle
- Get suited & booted then get hands on, handling a frame & inspecting the hive*
- Relax over a tutored beer & honey tasting
- Enjoy some nibbles
*on extremely wet days, we will build a hive & focus on hive bi-products
We did the bee keeping and beer tasting experience and it was such a lovely afternoon. The bee talk and bee keeping part was very interesting and I also learned a lot about bee’s. This is then followed by some beer tasting with one of the beers being made from the honey produced there. I cannot recommend this enough! Hiver’s beers are also very tasty!
@shinny_d
Tripadvisor
We had two amazzzzing facilitators guiding us through the afternoon. (...) Our bee keeper gave us careful safety advice and made sure we were gowned up to visit the hives..all equipment was provided. She was incredibly knowledgeable and a great communicator. We learned a lot and felt safe at all times. The beer and honey tasting afterwards was equally informative and fun. While I won't be keeping bees in future, I will be making plant choices for my garden with bees in mind and change my honey buying habits. We will also be searching out Hiver beers which were delicious.
@701helenp
Tripadvisor
Absolutely fantastic experience. Both Tracy and Alice were extremely knowledgeable, engaging, and fun - I couldn't have asked for more. We got amazing information from Tracy about how bee's live before getting to see them up close and personal in the hives. Afterwards, the beer tasting was brilliantly guided by Alice, who gave amazing history and fun facts, and the beer and honey was delicious. Highly recommend.
Customer name
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TO REDEEM YOUR GIFT VOUCHER, CHECK THE INFORMATION ON YOUR VOUCHER AND FROM YOUR VOUCHER PROVIDER.
Please contact us on honey@hiverbeers.com with any niggles or queries.
FAQ
What is the difference between the Hiver Experiences and the Taproom Tastings?
The Hiver Experiences
These are 2 hour long beekeeping and honey beer tastings. This takes place in 3 locations: our London site as well as 2 rural locations in Surrey and Sussex.
It starts with an introduction to beekeeping and a hive inspection, followed by a tutored tasting of 3 of Hiver Beers' award winning honey beers, accompanied with food matching.
It is run weekly during the summer beekeeping season and monthly during the winter (see ‘When is the Hiver Experience running’ for details on the season). All locations are beekeeping sites with active hives.
We recommend this experience for individuals, couples or friends who want to learn more about beekeeping as much as beer.
The Hiver Tastings
We have a number of different tastings, including the Hiver Taproom Tasting, the Bermondsey Beer Tasting and Best of British. They are tutored beer tasting, run at the Hiver Beers headquarters, centring around different themes. More information about each tasting can be found at the links on the Tasting page.
We recommend these tastings for people who want to learn more about honey beer and brewing.
Where do the Hiver Experiences take place?
You can enjoy the Hiver Experience in the urban settings of Bee Urban in London's Kennington Park, and the rural scenery of the Albourne Estate Vineyard in Sussex or the Greyfriars Vineyard in Surrey. The location of your experience is selected at the time of purchase and your voucher will only be valid for either our London or rural locations.
Where do the Taproom Tastings take place?
Our Taproom Tastings are run from the Hiver Beers headquarter: our Taproom located in Bermondsey, Arch 56 Stanworth Street, London, SE1 3NY.
What should I wear for the Hiver Experience?
A beekeeping suit and gloves will be provided to you during the experience, however, you do need to wear closed shoes, and socks that cover your ankles. Shorts/skirts are accepted, as they can go under the beekeeping suit, so long as your feet and ankles are covered.
When do the Hiver Experiences run?
Our Tastings run throughout the year.
Our London Beekeeping and Beer Tasting Experience runs weekly from April - September, and monthly from October - March.
Our Rural Beekeeping and Beer Tasting Experience runs weekly from April - September, alternating location every week.
What is the difference between the summer and winter beekeeping experiences?
Our London Beekeeping and Beer Tasting Experience summer season runs weekly from April - September, and our winter experience runs monthly from October - March.
Summer Experience
From April to September, the hives are buzzing with activity and you get a chance to peak inside. Expect the same beer tasting and introduction to bees, then don a beekeeping suit and head over to the hives for a hive inspection. Have a go at handling the frames, and finding the Queen Bee herself. In case of bad weather, we will look at the life cycle of the bee, bi-products of the hive and build frames in place of beekeeping. There's so much to see!
Winter Experience
From October to March, we will be running our winter beekeeping experience. Expect the same beer tasting and introduction to bees with a more in depth look at how the colony works over the colder months. Help the beekeepers prepare for next season by building a hive, learning about the bi-products of the hive and understanding how to inspect the health of the colony over the winter. Whether you're helping the beekeepers prep the hives, or relaxing with some wax candle making, the bees will be buzzing, and so will you!
I have food allergies / I am on a specific diet, will you be able to accommodate it?
Our beer contains wheat (gluten), and some of our food matches contain wheat, lactose and may contain traces of nuts. If you suffer from any food intolerance or allergies, please let us know at the start of the session. If your allergy is severe, you are welcome to bring your own snacks with you, just email us on honey@hiverbeers.com to let us know.
I have a voucher for the Hiver experience, how do I redeem it?
Redeeming a voucher:
PLEASE ENSURE YOUR VOUCHER IS VALID AND WITHIN THE EXPIRY DATE.
To redeem a voucher from Virgin Experiences please return to the Virgin Experiences website and follow the steps to book into your experience. You will need your voucher number and PIN.
To redeem a voucher that was purchased from the Hiver website please follow the links below to the relevant experience and input your voucher number as required.
To redeem a voucher from all other experience providers (Not On The High Street, Buy a Gift, Red Letter Days, Indytute etc) then please check session availability using the links below before sending us the following details. We look forward to managing your booking for you.
· Voucher details (voucher number / serial number AND pin)
· Your full name
· Dietary requirements of attendee/s
· Your mobile number
· Your top 3 session dates and times (please check availability in the calendars at the links below and choose across 3 different dates and times)
The Urban (or London) Hiver Beekeeping and Beer Tasting Experiences 2024:
Our urban beekeeping and beer tasting experiences will be running throughout the year. Between April and September, you can book into our summer experience, and between October and March our winter experience will be running monthly. You can see session availability using the calendar in the link here.
The Rural Hiver Beekeeping and Beer Tasting Experiences 2023:
Our rural experience is now available to book from May 2023. You can find available dates in the calendar at the link here.
The Taproom, Bermondsey Beer Mile and Best of British Tastings:
Available dates for these experiences can be found at the link below by navigating to the correct item on this page.
My voucher has expired, can I still use it?
If your voucher is not from the Hiver Beers or Not on the High Street website, you will have to get in touch with your voucher provider in order to extend it.
If your voucher is from Hiver Beers or Not on the High Street, we are able to extend your voucher for a small fee. Please get in touch with honey@hiverbeers.com for more information.
My voucher is from a different experience provider
We work with a range of experience providers. Please follow the instructions below in order to redeem your voucher.
PLEASE ENSURE YOUR VOUCHER IS VALID AND WITHIN THE EXPIRY DATE. IF YOUR VOUCHER IS INVALID PLEASE GET IN TOUCH WITH YOUR VOUCHER PROVIDER TO EXTEND YOUR VOUCHER.
To redeem a voucher from Virgin Experiences please return to the Virgin Experiences website and follow the steps to book into your experience. You will need your voucher number and PIN.
To redeem a voucher that was purchased from the Hiver website please follow the links below to the relevant experience and input your voucher number as required.
To redeem a voucher from all other experience providers (Not On The High Street, Buy a Gift, Red Letter Days, Indytute etc) then please check session availability using the links below before sending us the following details. We look forward to managing your booking for you.
· Voucher details (voucher number / serial number AND pin)
· Your full name
· Dietary requirements of attendee/s
· Your mobile number
· Your top 3 session dates and times (please check availability in the calendars at the links below and choose across 3 different dates and times)
The Urban (or London) Hiver Beekeeping and Beer Tasting Experiences 2024:
Our urban beekeeping and beer tasting experiences will be running throughout the year. Between April and September, you can book into our summer experience, and between October and March our winter experience will be running monthly. You can see session availability using the calendar in the link here.
The Rural Hiver Beekeeping and Beer Tasting Experiences 2023:
Our rural experience is now available to book from May 2023. You can find available dates in the calendar at the link here.
The Taproom, Bermondsey Beer Mile and Best of British Tastings:
Available dates for these experiences can be found at the link below by navigating to the correct item on this page.
I want to book a specific date, but I can't see any sessions for it on the website
We release the sessions progressively, to ensure we run at full capacity throughout the season. Our summer dates are very popular, but spring and late summer are also great. We release new sessions on a monthly to weekly basis during spring/summer, to ensure we meet the demand.
If you are after a very specific date due to travelling, contact us on honey@hiverbeers.com and we’ll do our best to accommodate.
Please note all tastings and experience run on Saturdays and Sundays and we do not release weekday availability.
I need to change my booking
If your booking is more than 2 weeks ahead, please contact us at honey@hiverbeers.com to request a change. We are able to change your booking once if it is outside of the 2 week policy. We are unable to change your booking within 2 weeks of your booking.
Unfortunately, many of our dates are full ahead of time. Please note that whilst we do our best to suit your needs, we may not be able to accommodate the exact time or date for your rebooking.
In order to rebook, contact us on honey@hiverbeers.com with your booking details.
