CLIFFE Castle Museum and Park in Keighley has been officially recognised as a pollinator-friendly site for bees.

It has received the Bees Needs Champion award, supported by DEFRA. The award recognises sites which have worked to take action and improve the lives of pollinators.

Cliffe Castle Support groups applied for the specialist status with help from Airedale Beekeepers’ Association, the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust and Bradford Council.

This entailed showcasing the work done, not only to further develop greener and wilder areas of the park, but also how the group and site have gone about promoting the importance of bees in sustaining life across the planet.

Cliffe Castle Support Group celebrated Bees Needs with a host of fun online content and worked with the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust to help make Cliffe Castle part of a future pollinator highway.

Captain Sir Tom Moore's love of 'delightful' Cliffe Castle

Airedale Beekeepers’ Association regularly holds sessions in school holidays where visitors get a chance to meet at a beekeeper at the museum’s observation hive.

Cllr Sarah Ferriby, Executive Member for Healthy People and Places, said: “This is fantastic recognition for Cliffe Castle and gives people of all ages the opportunity to learn about bees and the huge part they play in our planet’s biodiversity.”

Dan Palmer, Bradford Council’s Heritage Parks Office, said: “The council has declared a climate emergency. We all need to take action, change the way we live and take better care of our planet. Bradford District Parks department is constantly looking at effective measures of improving the ecology and biodiversity of our district’s green spaces.”

Linda Schofield from Airedale Beekeepers Association said: “ABKA has a long-standing tradition of working with Cliffe Castle to show visitors the beauty and importance of honey bees, amongst all other pollinators. Over the past few years this partnership has grown, and we regularly work together on put on fun, fact-filled children’s activities.

“On several occasions we have had a visitor who says they are terrified of bees, but after hearing more about the amazing ways honey bees work together to keep the colony alive, they find they have a new respect for this creature.”