Bee-keeping for Beginners Short Break

Would you like a never-ending supply of honey for yourself and your family?  Then Warner leisure Hotels have just the Experience Break for you - A beginners guide to bee-keeping.

For a very small creature, the humble bee produces an extraordinary number of useful things. There's pollen, royal jelly, and propolis, all which are also used for nutritional and medicinal purposes. Mead is a delicious beverage and beeswax is used in candle making, cosmetics, polish and for modelling. And many of us would be sorry to lose the delicious sweetness of honey in our porridge or on our toast.

Bringing all those products to the supermarket and health food shop shelves, of course, is big business. But throughout the country thousands of amateur beekeepers (or "apiarists" to be precise) play a vital role tending for billions of the insects that not only nourish and heal us - but also pollinate our trees, shrubs, flowers and crops.

Our apiarist and tutor Rosemary Proud first became fascinated with bees as a child after many visits to the glass hive of a beekeeper patient of her country G.P. father. But it was not until many years later that the interest became a reality when she was given a hive and beekeeping kit as a surprise birthday present by her daughter. After five years the apiary has a constant 6 - 8 hives and, although a knowledgeable apiaist, she says she continues to learn something new about her bees everyday.

On this course you'll be introduced to a few bee's and the basics of beekeeping! There will also be talks on beeswax and candle making as well as a chance to sample some different honeys. "A bee sting may last for a day or two, but a bee bite will last a lifetime."

It promises to be a fascinating course!

Bee Keeping for Beginners

Littlecote House
Hungerford, Berkshire . RG17 0SU
Dreamily beautiful Littlecote House has hosted King Charles II and Elizabeth I. It was here that Henry VIII wooed Jane Seymour. This atmospheric house spans the centuries, with its beautiful Roman Orpheus mosaic and Cromwellian chapel. Explore its ancient rooms, relax in the pool, and enjoy live nightly entertainment.

5 April 2010
14 June 2010
9 August 2010

Visit the Warner Leisure Hotels website to find out more...