Our Story
Neve and the Bees
When we first moved to this area in 2011 we had the delight of dragging two bored children around various houses to find somewhere to live. On seeing a large stack of honey jars in one house, a grumpy 9 year old Neve pipes up,
“Why have you got all that honey?” to which the owner of the honey replies,
“Because I have bees”
“What, they make all that honey!”
“Yes, and they make wax and propolis and pollinate lots of flowers and trees”
Neve was blissfully quiet for the rest of the afternoon; then later,
“I think we should live in that house with those bees. I’ve spoken with Grandad Jim and I’ve asked him to get me a beehive for my birthday”
Starting from this one hive, and with help from some wonderful local beekeepers and crafts-folk, we developed a thriving apiary and have become part of a lovely beekeeping community.
…and the rest, as they say, is history!
All our products are made from 100% natural ingredients, organic (wherever possible) and produced here, in our village, in West Oxfordshire.
The Rest of Our Colony
Julie Macken
Deputy Queen Bee
A qualified Chemist with a 20-year career in Pharmaceutical Marketing, our Deputy Queen Bee became increasingly disillusioned with the poor quality and sometimes downright nasty ingredients that we are encouraged to put on and in our bodies – hence Neve’s Bees was created to change that. She is also studying to become a practitioner of Herbal Medicine.
Neve Macken
Queen Bee
With a keen interest in latest trends, our Queen Bee’s main role is as critical advisor – making sure the products look, feel and smell as least as good as the products she and her friends like to try out. She also helps with packing – ensuring our products get to our customers in time.
Ross Macken
Ops Bee
Our Ops Bee, with a background in running rather larger factories, looks after all our manufacturing and regulatory issues. He is also brilliant at putting together new hives for our growing apiary. He has been seen using some of the hand salves and lip balm in the garage!
Nikki Shield
Designer Bee
Our Designer Bee runs a branding and design agency – Designs Like These – and has been instrumental in creating the beautiful packaging designs across our range of products and this website.
ROGER KNIGHT
IT Bee
Our IT Bee built our website and also supports and maintains it. He also runs our email marketing as well as dealing with any other techy bits and pieces we throw at him.
He runs a web agency called AttractMore.
ANN LOWE
PR Bee
Our PR Bee Ann is a freelance writer who has supported small & indie businesses with content and PR over the last 15 years. Ann loves to support businesses who challenge the status quo, and, as a practising eco therapist, she is fully behind our mission and keen to spread the word about our skincare products.