Gift a Buzz About Bees Tour

This tour takes place on a working farm:

LOCATION: There will be various activities happening in the background of your tour; you'll need to drive past a farm equipment shop to get to the tour parking area and you may see or hear tractors or other farm vehicles. The address for the event is 4505 Line 46, Gadshill, ON.

DOGS: There are two or three dogs on site (depending on which of my family are visiting on a given day), all are friendly but our youngest dog especially will bark a lot on your arrival. I like to allow the dogs to greet guests and hang out during tours and they typically calm down and wander away once they get bored. If you have a particular concern about dogs please let me know. 

ACCESSIBILITY & WASHROOMS: With regards to accessibility, the lawn is not perfectly smooth, please expect to watch your step. The washroom facility includes a composting toilet system and does require travelling up a set of stairs. 

Please dress for the weather; wearing what you're most comfortable in!

I do request that you bring (or wear) long loose pants (or jeans, but they can be hot), long socks and close-toed shoes. These will add to your personal protection during the beehive inspection portion of the tour, and you are welcome to change on site (only 1 bathroom change space available, you may wish to plan for slipping loose pants overtop of a pair of shorts).

Currently I have a variety of bee suits, veils and jackets in different sizes. If you have any concerns regarding suit sizing, please reach out!

Cameras & phone cameras are welcome!

Feel free to bring water bottles and snacks as well. While I do offer a pitcher of ice water, I do highly recommend that if you prefer your own beverage or are sensitive to differences between city vs well water and hard vs soft water, you may find you prefer to bring some of your own water. Being in a bees suit gets hot, and its nice to know you have something that will leave you feeling refreshed.

If you prefer, you can wear light summer clothing and bring along your additional protective clothing so that you don't have to wear it the whole time.

In summary, please bring:

• camera
• water bottle
• snacks if you'll need them
• long pants, long sleeves and socks if you'd like extra protection

I recommend that children should be at least 4 or older, however this is at your discretion and 2 of my children's bee suits can fit (very large) on a 2-year-old (tested out via my niece and nephews). All children will need parental/guardian assistance with putting on protective gear and the candle-making craft. 

I also want to note that during the bee-talk, some of the more science-y parts will go over younger children's heads. Since the tours are largely filled with adults, I try to strike a good balance so that all ages can learn and enjoy.

This experience only runs if weather conditions are appropriate:

Bees are significantly more reactive when weather is too grey/cloudy/windy/rainy and this will increase chance of stings. I (the beekeeper) will do my best to make a judgement call within 24 hours if the weather forecast is questionable. Typically, the forecast has to be above 60% chance of rain before and during the tour hours before I begin to consider cancelling.

In the event I choose to cancel due to weather, I will notify you via e-mail as closely as 6 hours in advance of the event.

In the case of a weather cancellation, the value of your ticket can be transferred in full to a store credit OR refunded, less a transaction processing fee of 5%. See Refund Policy for further details.

Currently I am not offering private tour bookings.

I operate Huckleberry Hives part time and work at my sister's fruit tree nursery (Silver Creek Nursery) several days per week. In order to maintain balance across my work and personal life, I've found that I cannot offer tours frequently all summer or I burn out and the tour quality decreases.

If you are willing to travel, I am able to suggest other beekeeping businesses that offer various tour or bee-visiting activities around other areas of Ontario. Feel free to reach out via my contact page to ask about them!

Thank you for your understanding and support!