Terms and conditions.

These terms apply when you sponsor a bee. They are written to be read rather than to be impressive.

Who you are buying from

Holybees, a sole trader based in the London Borough of Hounslow, keeping honey bees in a churchyard apiary in Isleworth. The trading name and contact address are in the footer of every page.

Holybees is not a registered charity. A sponsorship is a purchase with benefits, not a donation, and no tax relief of any kind applies to it.

What you are buying

A sponsorship for a fixed period: a day, a week, a month or a year, at the price shown when you buy. You receive a numbered certificate naming a bee, and the benefits listed on the tier you chose. The benefits for each tier are shown on the sponsorship page and a copy of them is recorded against your order at the time you buy, so what you were promised is what applies even if the wording changes later.

You are sponsoring the upkeep of bees at a working apiary. You do not acquire ownership of a bee, a hive, or any part of the apiary, and no bee is set aside for you exclusively.

Bees are livestock

Colonies die. It happens to good beekeepers in ordinary years, from disease, weather, queen failure or a poor season. If the colony your sponsorship is associated with does not survive, your sponsorship continues against the apiary as a whole and your certificate stands. No refund arises from the death of a colony, because what you paid for is the upkeep of the bees, which continues.

Things that depend on the season or on weather

Some benefits cannot be guaranteed to a date. Photographs, open days and hive visits depend on weather, the state of the colonies and one beekeeper's time. Where a benefit is a draw, entry to the draw is what is promised, not a win.

Payment

Payments are taken by Stripe. Prices are in pounds sterling and include any tax due. Recurring sponsorships renew automatically at the interval shown when you bought, and you get a reminder before each renewal.

Cancelling

You have fourteen days from buying to cancel for a full refund, under the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013. If you asked for the certificate to be issued straight away and it has been, that right may not apply, because the service has begun at your request.

Recurring sponsorships can be cancelled at any time from the link in your confirmation email, which opens a secure page where you manage the subscription directly. Cancelling stops future payments. It does not refund a period already served.

If something has gone wrong, write to the contact address in the footer before anything else. Most things are fixed by asking.

Gifts

If you buy a sponsorship as a gift you are the customer and the cancellation right is yours. If you set a future delivery date, the card is held sealed until then and the recipient is told nothing before it.

The show bench

Appearing on the public show bench is optional and only happens if you tick the box. You can ask to be removed at any time. Names that are abusive, misleading, or that use somebody else's identity will not be published.

Certificates and images

Your certificate is yours to keep, print and share. Photographs from the apiary remain the property of the photographer. Where a tier grants permission to use them, that permission is for your own posts and is not transferable.

Liability

Nothing here limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or for fraud. Beyond that, liability for any sponsorship is limited to what you paid for it.

Changes

These terms may be updated. The version that applies to your sponsorship is the one recorded against your order when you bought it.

Law

These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have jurisdiction.

Last updated August 2026. Questions go to buzz@holybees.co.uk.