1. What are cookies?

A cookie, also known as a browser cookie, is a small text file which is downloaded to your computer, mobile or other device when you visit a website or use an app.

Cookies help make your online experience more efficient and relevant to your interests. For instance, they are used to remember your preferences on sites that you visit often, to remember your user ID and the contents of your shopping basket, and to help you to navigate between pages more efficiently. Different types of cookies are used to do different things. They also help us to identify ways to improve your overall site experience and are used to provide you with advertising which is more tailored to your interests, or to measure the number of your site visits and the most popular pages you visit.

This policy sets out the types of cookies we use and what we use them for.

2. Are there different types of cookies?

Yes, there are different types of cookies. Cookies are divided into “first party” and “third party” cookies, and “session” and “persistent” cookies.

2.1 “First party” and “third party” cookies

Cookies can be set and controlled by the operator of a website such as Bee Cottage for this website (known as a “first party cookie”) or by a third party such as Facebook, for example to display advertisements and social sharing features (known as a “third party cookie”).

2.2 “Session cookies” and “persistent cookies”

Cookies can also be divided into “session cookies” and “persistent cookies”:

(a) Session cookies

Session cookies are stored in your computer or device’s memory during your browsing session and are automatically deleted from your computer when you leave a website. These cookies usually store a session ID, allowing you to move from page to page without having to log-in repeatedly.

They are widely used by commercial websites; for example to keep track of items that a consumer has added to a shopping basket. Session cookies do not collect any information from your computer or device and they expire at the end of your browser session.

(b) Persistent cookies

Persistent cookies usually have an expiration date and so stay in your browser until they expire, or until you manually delete them. For example we use persistent cookies for functionality. We also use persistent cookies to better understand usage patterns so that we can improve the website for our customers. We’ve included more details below to help you to understand what kinds of cookies we use.

Other technologies linked to cookies

There are other technologies which can seem similar to cookies, but are not the same, including pixels and site tags. These pixels or tags can be used to retrieve information such as your device type or operating system, IP address, time of visit, etc. Please see our privacy policy for more detail on the types of information that may be collected. They are sometimes used to create or access cookies on your browser, but are not cookies themselves.

3. How do we use cookies?

We use cookies to help us to track our website visitor information and to learn about the behaviour of visitors to our website and how they respond to our marketing communications and for research and statistical purposes.

As detailed in the privacy policy, Bee Cottage may disclose data collected from cookies, such as visitor trends, to third parties, in an anonymous form, for research and statistical purposes, and to help us to optimise our websites and the targeting of advertisements.

The cookies that Bee Cottage uses do not collect personal information such as name, address, email address and do not link any information they collect to an individual. Bee Cottage can and do associate multiple sessions using the same device ID for the purposes of constructing an aggregated picture of a users journey and behaviour.

From time to time Bee Cottage may also analyse IP addresses, user agent strings or other anonymous data sources.

Third party suppliers

We work with third party suppliers who place cookies on your device and report on “web analytics” information.

In addition, Bee Cottage engages third party advertisers and advertising networks to place targeted advertising cookies. This means that data collected through these cookies will be shared with such parties in order that they can select and serve relevant adverts to you and others. We do not disclose information about identifiable individuals to our advertisers, but we may provide them with aggregate information about our users to assist them in performing this service. We may also use such aggregate information to help advertisers reach the kind of audience that we want to target.

If you click on a hyperlink from our website to any third-party websites (for example, if you 'share' content from Bee Cottage with friends or colleagues through social networks), you may be sent cookies from these third-party websites.

The use of cookies by Bee Cottage is covered in this policy. How third parties use cookies is covered in their cookie policies. We have included a list of some of the third parties we work with below with a link to their cookie policy:

• Facebook Cookie Policy

• Twitter Cookie Policy

• Bing Cookie Policy

• LinkedIn Cookie Policy

• Google Cookie Policy

4. How can you control the use of cookies?

Most web browsers automatically accept cookies. You can always choose to disable your web browser’s ability to accept cookies. Please note that if you do elect to disable your web browser’s ability to accept cookies, you may not be able to access or take advantage of many features of the service and some parts of the website may not work properly. If this is the case a message is usually displayed allowing you to change your settings back.

You can control how cookies are set within your browser settings. Find out more about:

• "Private Browsing" in Firefox

• "Incognito" Browsing and cookie settings in Chrome

• "InPrivate" Browsing and cookie settings in Internet Explorer 9

• "Private Browsing" and cookie settings in Safari

5. Cookies we use

Below we set out in detail the types of cookies that we use on this website, and their function.

All cookies will expire after a specific period of time to ensure that they only last for as long as they are required.

Strictly necessary cookies

These cookies let you move around our website, and use essential features – such as accessing secure areas of our website and identifying you as being logged in. They are required for the proper operation of our website and if they are disabled our website may not be able to function properly.

These cookies don’t gather any information about you as an individual that could be used for marketing, or remembering where you’ve been on the internet.

Analytics cookies

We use these cookies, sometimes referred to as ‘web analytics’, to collect information about how visitors use our website. This includes details of the site where the visitor has come from, pages viewed, which content visitors are clicking on, which products visitors are interested in and purchase, and at what point a visitor leaves our website.

You can control how these cookies are set on your computer or device using our consent management tool.

We use this information to improve the way our website works – for example, by ensuring that users are finding what they are looking for easily.

Functionality cookies

We use these cookies to recognise users when they return to our website. They enable the personalisation of content, the recognition of users and, and also remember user preferences (for example, their choice of language or region).

We use the information to improve our website and enhance our visitors’ experience.

You can control how these cookies are set on your computer or device using our consent management tool.

Targeting/advertising cookies

These cookies are used to collect information about your browsing habits in order to deliver adverts more relevant to you and your interests. They remember that you have visited a website, and this information is shared with other organisations (such as advertisers) with our permission. They are also used to limit the number of times you see an advertisement, while also helping to measure the effectiveness of the advertising campaign.

We will use the information to provide you with advertisements that are tailored to you. To ensure compliance with our policies, we restrict the use of third-party cookies to trusted partners.

You can control how these cookies are set on your computer or device using our consent management tool.