What a busy start to the year! Two new exciting collabarations going into 2025, with the Cotswold Farm Park and Charingworth Manor Hotel. We have moved a number of hives up to the Farm Park to here help pollination of their sandfoin crop. We will also help manage the observation hive in the park itself allowing people to get up close to see the inner workings of a hive, it will also be used to deliver educational events on pollinators and their importance to agriculture and ecosystems. We have also joined forces with Charingworth Manor Hotel to establish bees in their grounds and provide the hotel with honey from those hives. Keep an eye on more events with them as the summer goes along. This is all alongside our usual pollination of the plum orchards and oilseed rape fields. The bees came through the mild winter well so they have been making the most of these crops although swarming has started earlier than normal which has meant keeping on top of managment has been very time consuming.

If you would like to see what a beekeeper gets upto over winter I would suggest following us on one of our social media channels where I have been doing regular winter updates.

All  the regular farmers markets have started up again after the winter break and after quite a few cancellations due to poor weather over the Christmas period its been good to get back out seeing everyone again. We are going into our second year at Willersey farmers market which if you haven’t visited is a supurb market full of the best local produce with a great friendly vibe set in the most gorgeous of Cotswold villages.

We have many summer fetes booked in including a new market for Scuttlebrook Wake which is part of the Cotswold Olimpicks (yes that is spelt correctly!) in Chipping Campden. We will be back for our usuall spot in Broadway for the horticultural show and food festival and Ashton Under Hill open gardens weekend. With many more events booked in check our social media feeds to see where you can find us and when our observation hive will be with us. If you are running an event this summer and would like a working hive as part of the attractions please do drop us a message to see if we are free.

Since January I have also been the subject of local photographer Lara Platman (see photo above), she will be following me around throughout the year to make a study of the beekeeping year. I can’t wait to see the full portfolio!