Honey Tasmania beekeeping duo list The Beehive for sale

The Beehive has become an iconic part of the community and has been the base and home for dynamic beekeeping duo Rebecca and Tristan Campbell since 2017.

The pair moved to Tasmania from the United States and fell in love with its rugged coastline and its people.

Mr Campbell, a beekeeper by trade, worked the land for several years before Mrs Campbell indicated she wanted to establish a retail shopfront for their business - Honey Tasmania.

Honey Tasmania has been in four locations in Northern Tasmania since 2006, in Legana, the Quadrant Mall in Launceston, Beauty Point and now Exeter.

The Quadrant Mall was their longest-running shop, but when they moved to Exeter Mrs Campbell wanted to create something unique - and The Beehive was born.

Complete with a bee nature walk, a factory out the back and a retail shop covered in bee paraphernalia, the premises has become a cultural and architectural icon at Exeter.

However, that legacy may soon come to an end, after the Campbells realised they wanted to pull up stumps and seek another adventure.

Mrs Campbell said they had already planned to close the shop, and they initially planned to do it in a couple of years.

But COVID-19 brought those plans forward, which ground to a halt their foot traffic.

"I had estimated before COVID that our traffic was 70 per cent tourists, but since COVID I think that it's actually like 80 per cent," Mrs Campbell said.

"It has had a huge impact...we have had a few Tasmanians coming in who are wandering around, but nowhere near what we used to get," she said.

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Despite this, Mrs Campbell said she wanted to stress that it wasn't COVID forcing them to close, but rather a desire to focus on other parts of the beekeeping business.

"We have been fortunate that our wholesale bulk honey sales has kept us afloat financially, but COVID has sped up the process of us closing the store," she said.

Describing herself as "an armchair beekeeper" Mrs Campbell said when the shop sold she was hoping to take a more hands-on role with her husband in the honey business.

"My husband is what you'd call a jack of all trades, but when we moved here our neighbour was the brother of the Tasmanian Honey Company and he brought us some leatherwood, and from then on we were hooked," she said.

"Once the shop is closed I will be able to take on more of the beekeeping responsibilities and learn more about it."

The pair are looking to move to the West Coast potentially, and have spoken about maybe setting up a small tourist venture.

However, Mrs Campbell said her passion was in educating people about honey and bees' role in the ecosystem.

"We do get school groups here but it's expensive, with the buses, and it is a lot of paperwork," she said.

"So I am hoping that I can take an education role, to get a display hive and go into schools to educate kids," she said.

"Getting children to see the connection between bees and the environment is something that's very important to me."

The premises at Exeter, including The Beehive, are for sale, but Mrs Campbell said they don't have a deadline for the purchase.

"We haven't got a date in mind of when we'd like to be out, it really depends on when the right buyer comes along."

Mrs Campbell said they would be prudent on who they would sell the property to because they want it to go into good hands.

"We are so thankful to the Exeter community for supporting us, and for everything they have done," she said.

Honey Tasmania will still produce product wherever they go, and the pair plan to keep their stall at Harvest Market. Mr and Mrs Campbell are also doing online sales.