Going to the Show

Last Thursday to Saturday saw the 81st annual National Honey Show, in Weybridge, Surrey. This show isn't just about honey, although they do have exhibitions of honey, wax and many other bee related displays.

It's a real competition, with many cups to win! 

Mead - a traditional honey drink dating back to medieval times

I entered 4 photographs, top middle one is mine! I won an award too.

Two middle ones with the bees on helenium flowers are mine, one with a 'Very highly commended'

And the one in the middle with the white mount, all mounts of which I cut myself!

Steve gave a talk about gardening for pollinators on the Friday afternoon and so spent the day mooching about the show taking in the other talks and browsing the trade stalls before his talk, whilst I headed up to the show on the Saturday with a couple of my colleagues.

There were many and varied trade stalls selling everything from beekeeping equipment, books and jewellery to cosmetics containing hive products.

There were some good speakers, for instance Keith Delaplane, Marla Spivac (the mother of breeding honey bees for hygienic behaviour) and, of course, my colleague Margaret Couvillon, speaking about her work at the bee lab at Sussex University.


For more photos see the National Honey Show website

Passing down the tricks of the trade

Saturday was finally a little drier, and having been to check the honey bee colony at a friends house, where I noticed some discarded offcuts of wood, I suggested to Steve, that while Sam was spending his regular Saturday afternoon with his grandparents, this may be a good time to teach BB how to use a few tools.

I have a honey bee colony in a nuc box in the garden, and now that winter approaches I'd like to get it up and out of draughts. I wanted to be able to place it at a decent height, not just for the bees but also for my back! The stand needed to fit a normal size hive as well as a nuc, and be extremely sturdy.

 

Whilst Dad got all the tools together, BB gave his bike a quick (hrmph, under protests!) clean.

But he nevertheless got his back stuck into it, and sawed and sawed! However, having had a sleep-over at a friends house the night before and got to sleep later than usual, he wasn't exactly full of energy, and took frequent breaks. During these breaks Steve got a few extra screws in the pergola currently under construction. He eventually finished the hive stand, and it's awaiting a coat of preservative to match the hive colour.

I cracked on too and got the greenhouse in tiptop shape in preparation for winter. Even though it's been quite wet and the garden's like a quagmire, it was mild and Zaf had a great time running around (making the quag even more mire-ish!). I gave him a bone to chew hoping to keep him occupied whilst we got on with our work, but he soon devoured it.

Meanwhile Harvey was out in his large run and enjoyed jumping around, whilst Zaf chased around his enclosure!

I gave him some hazel twigs, which he happily started to nibble at.

Later, while the rain pounded down outside (maintaining our quagmire...!), we had a helping of grub from our local Chinese take-away, some chocolate and a big family cuddle on the sofa whilst watching the film 'Mr Deeds'!

I hope your weekend was good too....

Going posh

On Friday Steve and I went to the capital to do some 'advising' on bees and planting in a certain posh area in Central London. In the sort of area where 2 bedroomed apartments sell for £6 million pounds!

One of the gardens we visited to bee inspect!

 After our meeting we headed off in search of lunch.

Pimlico Road: land of men in suits and ladies in pearls with sun glasses on their heads

And this is what we came across, Daylesford - a very lovely organic deli and eatery

Lots of shops with pricey price tags

Inside Daylesford, yummy deli

Great salads

Lots of nice things....

Love the elegant buildings

And all the famous connections

And the cabs heading down Kings Road, the fashionable shopping strasse

There was an exhibition/show about cycling...in Denmark! Can't  seem to get away from my Danish roots, even when I am off to London, lol!  But seriously, the Danes take cycling to a totally different level, and it's actually pleasant to cycle over there; I believe even the crown prince cycles to work.

The reason we sauntered down Kings Road was because I was keen to visit Anthropologie, but we couldn't help having a little giggle about the name of the shop pictured below ;o)

We finally reached Anthropologie and it wasn't disappointing. GOSH what a fab place, imaginatively created and full of fun and colour!

See those blue bowls on the top shelf there, well, a couple of them came home with us....just accidentally, you know

This was truly a pretty shop, and if you ever happen to find yourself in Kings Road, do pop your head in

After a pumpkin spiced latte, we headed home, having had a rather capital day!

Autumn approaches

So it's getting a little chillier, a little wetter, a little darker; the seasons are rolling through their cycle. It's time to feed the bees, make sure there are plenty of stores to keep them safe throughout the winter.

Pumpkins and unusual squashes are beginning to appear in the stores and farm shops. Warming soups and stews are increasingly on the dinner menu.

Honey bees on helenium flowers

It's been incredibly rainy. But interspersed with this inclement weather there has been some lovely sunny spells. The fungi are thriving on the damp woodland floor.

The berries on the Whitebeam shine bright red against the blue sky. And the ivy is in flower, tempting many flower visitors, including the rather pretty Ivy bee.

The gorgeous ivy bee, Colletes hederae, is a species of plasterer bee.

The leaves shine pretty hues of red, yellow and brown.

If you go down to the woods today...I guarantee it'll be pretty peachy!