A garden apiary in Whittlesford, Cambridge, UK - honey bees and their beekeeper Hilary van der Hoff.
I have redesigned the back garden. Gone are the raised beds, the plants that were in them, and the intervening paths. This is what it looks like now:
Copper Hive and Pond Hive now visible from here, having been previously hidden behind raspberry canes.
I sowed many packets of wildflower seeds on the cleared ground, and watered them in. Watch this space!
A jar of honey is scant compensation for being terrorised while pruning the roses.
Read MoreIn October, the showiest thing in the garden is the orange trumpet plant that climbs over the top of the fence from next door. The bees love it.
A quick internet search tells me that this is Campsis radicans, the trumpet vine.
The flowers are big and bright, and they seem to be a source of both nectar and pollen. Some bees head right down into the narrow funnel of the trumpet, where there may be nectar. Others are gathering pollen from the yellow anthers further up.
But somebody else is foraging here too. This spider has captured one of the bees in a strategically located web!
Upper entrances for beehives!
Read MorePractical advice for most amateur beekeepers is:
Don't design your own honey labels - get them from Thorne's.
And that's what Hamish Symington told us on the CBKA Improvers' course. He's a graphic designer, so he actually had designed his own labels. But designing and printing labels is a process that most of us are neither good at nor geared up for. However, after trawling through all the label designs that Thorne's website had to offer and many more besides, I found I just didn't really like any of them.
As things have turned out, working on the packaging design and branding for Copper Bee Apiary has been an unexpectedly engaging and enjoyable offshoot of beekeeping. For this I have to thank in large part Susan Harnicar Jackson, the artist behind the logo and label designs. Susan is a joy to work with, being creative, pro-active, responsive, thoughtful and enthusiastic. I am indebted to her for her striking honey label, which she has kindly allowed me to use on the website as well.
Receiving packages from America containing the latest labels and/or tags, always beautifully wrapped and presented, has been something to look forward to!
Do not imagine that all beekeepers are "saving the bees" - in some cases they are doing quite the opposite.
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