The Seahive has recently submitted a detailed planning application to Dover District Council to develop a site located inside Betteshanger Country Park, which is near Deal on the Kent coast, South East England.
Betteshanger Park itself is a beautiful 250-acre Country Park close to the sea, about 2 miles from Deal and which already attracts in excess of 200k visitors per year.
The park offers over 10km of single-track mountain bike trails, 5 km of running tracks, a Forest School and a busy events calendar including holiday clubs, festivals and shows as well as a new multi-million pound visitor centre which houses the new mining museum in honour of the site's important mining heritage, as part of Betteshanger Colliery which was established in 1912 and closed in 1989.
Betteshanger Colliery, Northbourne Image obtained from britainfromabove.org.uk
The Seahive will be leasing a 15-acre site from the current owner, Betteshanger Park Limited, on a long-term basis. The site itself is opposite the existing car park and close to other amenities including the brand new play park, cycle hire hut, Lamp Room restaurant and various walking, running and biking tracks.
Our intention is to be an integral part of the wider Country Park, to add to the overall destination where we expect visitors to experience and benefit from all aspects of the park. We will be using the existing shared car park and our guests will enter The Seahive via the main entrance next to the mining museum.
Betteshanger provides unique access to surrounding counties (via the M2/M20), London (Kings Cross to Ashford takes 38 minutes on the high speed train link) and also Northern Europe via the Dover ferry (9 miles from the site), Channel Tunnel (Calais to Folkestone takes 35 minutes, the latter being only 15 miles from the site) and Eurostar links (Brussels is 1 hour 37 minutes on the Eurostar to Ashford International, which is 29 miles from the site).
Establishing The Seahive here will also regenerate part of the old colliery site and help to reignite the local economy as we seek to become a world-class destination underpinned by a deeply sustainable and ecological approach