Privacy Policy
Who we are and how to contact us
Honeyfields Bee Farm is the “controller” of your personal data, which means we decide how and why it is used. This policy explains what we collect when you visit our website or buy from us, why we collect it, and your rights.
- Business: Honeyfields Bee Farm
- Address: Honeyfields Bee Farm, Mile Tree Lane, Aldermans Green, Coventry, CV2 1NT
- Email: info@honeyfieldsbeefarm.co.uk
- Telephone: 02476 490311
For any question about this policy or your personal data, email us at the address above.
The personal data we collect
We collect only what we need to take and deliver orders, answer enquiries and run the website.
- Identity and contact details: your name, email address, telephone number, and billing and delivery addresses. For trade customers, also your business name and address.
- Order records: what you bought, prices, dates, and delivery details.
- Payment details: card payments are taken by our payment provider, BigCommerce Payments. We do not store your full card number.
- Enquiries and messages: what you send us by email, contact form, phone or social media.
- Live bee sales: where we sell bees or queens, we will record the buyer’s name, address and contact details and the details of the sale, for bee health and traceability.
- Marketing preferences: whether you want emails from us, and when and how you told us.
- Account details: your login email and order history, if you create an account.
- Website and device data: your IP address, browser type, the pages you view, and cookie identifiers (see Cookies below).
We get this information from you directly, from your browser when you use the site, and from payment and delivery providers who confirm payments and deliveries. We do not buy marketing lists.
How we use your data and why we are allowed to
UK data protection law says we must have a “lawful basis” for each use of your data. This table shows ours.
| What we do | Data we use | Our lawful basis |
|---|---|---|
| Take, fulfil and deliver your orders, and handle returns and refunds | Identity, contact, order and delivery details | Contract: we need it to deliver what you ordered |
| Keep accounts and tax records and meet consumer law | Order and payment records | Legal obligation |
| Reply to your enquiries, including trade and wholesale enquiries | Identity, contact details, your messages | Legitimate interests: running our business and helping you |
| Send you marketing emails | Name, email address, preferences | Consent, or the “soft opt-in” for existing customers (similar products, with an easy opt-out in every email) |
| Prevent fraud and keep the website secure | IP address, order data | Legitimate interests |
| Understand how the website is used and improve it | Cookie and usage data | Consent, or the legal exemption for certain low-risk analytics cookies (see Cookies) |
| Report to the National Bee Unit where bee health rules require it | Live bee sale records | Legal obligation, under the Bees Act 1980 |
| Establish, bring or defend legal claims | Relevant records | Legitimate interests |
Where we rely on legitimate interests, we have weighed them against your rights. You can ask us for details.
We do not sell your personal data. We do not make decisions about you by automated means that have a legal or similarly significant effect. You can unsubscribe from marketing, or withdraw any consent, at any time.
Who we share your data with
We share your data only with service providers who help us run the business, and only what they need to do their job. They act on our instructions and must protect your data.
| Provider | What they do for us |
|---|---|
| BigCommerce | Runs our online shop, hosting, checkout and customer accounts |
| BigCommerce Payments | Takes payments |
| Royal Mail, APC Overnight, and our pallet and freight carriers | Deliver your order |
| Omnisend | Sends our newsletters |
| BigCommerce and Google Analytics (GA4) | Shows us how the website is used |
| Xero | Keeps our accounts |
We may also share data where the law requires or allows it:
- with the National Bee Unit (part of the Animal and Plant Health Agency) for bee health inspection, disease control and traceability, under the Bees Act 1980
- with HMRC, courts, regulators or the police
- with our professional advisers, such as accountants and lawyers
- with a buyer, if we sell or reorganise the business, who must continue to follow this policy
Transfers outside the UK
Some of our providers, such as BigCommerce and Google, may handle your data outside the UK, including in the United States. Where that happens, the transfer is protected in one of these ways: the country is one the UK treats as providing adequate protection, the provider is covered by the UK-US data bridge, or the provider has signed the UK’s standard contract terms (the International Data Transfer Agreement or the UK Addendum).
You can email us for more detail about the safeguards we use.
How long we keep your data
We keep personal data only as long as we need it for the reasons above, then delete or anonymise it.
| Data | How long we keep it |
|---|---|
| Order, invoice and payment records | 6 years after the end of the financial year, for tax and accounting law |
| Customer account | Until you close it |
| Enquiries and emails | Up to 2 years after our last contact |
| Marketing email list | Until you unsubscribe. We then keep only your email address on a suppression list, so we do not email you again |
| Live bee sale records | 10 years from the date of sale, for bee health and traceability |
| Cookie and website data | As shown in the Cookies section below |
Cookies and similar technologies
We use cookies, small files stored on your device, to make the shop work, and we ask your permission before using any that are not essential or exempt. Since 5 February 2026, UK law no longer requires consent for certain low-risk cookies, such as some analytics and functionality cookies. We still tell you about them, and you can object.
| Type | What it does | Do we ask first? |
|---|---|---|
| Strictly necessary | Keeps your basket and checkout working, keeps the site secure, remembers your cookie choices | No |
| Functionality | Remembers settings such as your currency or preferences | Not where the legal exemption applies. You can object. |
| Analytics | Counts visits and shows which pages are useful, so we can improve them | Not where the legal exemption applies. You can object. Otherwise yes. |
| Advertising and marketing | Shows adverts relevant to you | Always |
You can change your choices at any time using our cookie settings, or by changing your browser settings. Blocking some cookies may stop parts of the shop working. For more about cookies, see the ICO’s guidance at ico.org.uk (opens in a new tab).
Your rights, and how to complain
You can ask us to show, correct, delete or limit the use of your personal data, and you can complain if you are unhappy with how we have handled it. Your rights are:
- Access: to get a copy of the data we hold about you.
- Correction: to have inaccurate or incomplete data corrected.
- Erasure: to have your data deleted, in some circumstances.
- Restriction: to ask us to limit how we use your data, in some circumstances.
- Objection: to object to uses based on our legitimate interests, and to object to direct marketing at any time.
- Portability: to receive data you gave us in a common, machine-readable format, where we use it under a contract or with your consent.
- Withdrawing consent: to withdraw consent at any time. This does not affect earlier use.
- Automated decisions: not to be subject to significant decisions made only by automated means. We do not make any.
How to use your rights. Email info@honeyfieldsbeefarm.co.uk. We may ask you to confirm your identity, or to say which information you want, before we start. We reply within one month, counted from when we have what we need. For complex or numerous requests we may extend this by up to two further months, and we will tell you why. We do not normally charge a fee.
How to complain. Please tell us first, by email or through our contact form at honeyfieldsbeefarm.co.uk/contact-us/. We will acknowledge your complaint within 30 days, look into it without undue delay, and tell you the outcome.
If you are not satisfied, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO): ico.org.uk (opens in a new tab), telephone 0303 123 1113, or by post to Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.
Security, children and changes to this policy
Security. We protect your data with secure (HTTPS) connections, limited access, and providers who take payments securely. No system is completely secure. If a breach puts your rights at risk, we will tell you and the ICO where the law requires it. If you have an account, please keep your password private.
Children. Our website is not aimed at children, and we do not knowingly collect their personal data.
Changes. We may update this policy, and we will post the new version on this page with a new date. Last updated: 23 October 2026.