Honey bee or not to honey bee

As my husband and I stood in our bathroom (we’d been discussing our favourite subject - home improvements), we watched as an enormous cloud of bees flew over our garden and seemingly settled in our neighbour’s orchard; we live in the countryside next to a very old farmhouse.

At this point my interest in bees had already been piqued by Santa Montefiore’s book “The Beekeeper’s Daughter” and subsequent introductory course booked. I don’t believe in signs but if I did, perhaps this would be a sign that my life was about to take a rather abrupt turn; then again, perhaps it was also a sign that a local beekeeper had missed a queen cell and now was left with half a hive of bees?

With swarm of bees settled in the neighbours garden I crept along the hedge and listened, crouched as if gardening, as I heard every few words from an older gentleman proclaiming that they were honey bees and he could take them away. My excitement and awe over what had happened was palpable and the countdown to the intro course began. The course was in August so I suspect we must have witnessed the swarm in May - it seemed an age until the course, I do remember that much!

The introductory course was held at the beautiful Cressing Temple Barns in North Essex by my now friend Jan - this is where I properly discovered that honey bees were actually not bumble bees (how did I not know this already?) and looked like the solitary bees I’d been so interested in. The course was excellent, just enough information to get me hooked - and then we went to visit the hives on site.

Jan (at the front) and the intro course attendees. That’s me on the far left. It was my first time in a bee suit and I couldn’t decide if I was a spaceman, CSI agent or member of the Ghostbusters.

I’m an imaginative sort, if you've read my “Naturist or Naturalist” post you’ll know that I had a special childhood with influence from some very eccentric people, my parents and other grandparents are/were also very intelligent and creative and so my creativity and imagination has always been strong -If daydreaming was an olympic sport I would be the greatest olympian known to mankind! - but my experience on the intro day and subsequent visit to an apiary with my local beekeeping association was nothing short of magical; filled with glee, surprise, excitement, pain (first bee sting, ouch) and delight. As my husband and I stood at a hive surrounded by thousands of bees I felt like a superhero princess who could see something others couldn’t - I was hooked!

As with all obsessions and passions time started to slow. I read books, I joined our local beekeeping association (yay Braintree Beekeepers) and started to learn how to use simple carpentry tools to build my first two hives. In the February I started the beekeeping for beginners course, finished the course, waited, built some more bits and spent more money on tools and equipment, waited. In the May another now friend, Antony, called me at work - he had a swarm for me.

The waiting and learning by this point had turned me into a bee-bore at work so when the news came that I had to leave early to welcome my very own bees to their new home I think they may have been pleased to see me leave the office for the day!

After the first swarm, came a second and I was set; two hives, complete with bees - I was a beekeeper and couldn’t have been happier.