Sausages in the forest

Today we played in our friends' wood. It was a lovely sunny autumn day and we were invited to come for a walk and have a bonfire sausage and some melted marshmallows.

 Campfire set up, and coffees all round, whilst the sausages sizzled.

We headed off for a little walk, and although it was quite muddy, we did at least get to see all the deer tracks.

The light filtered very moodily through the trees.

Kids and dog frolicked in the autumn leaf litter.

And boys climbed trees

What a lovely way to spend a few hours on a sunny November afternoon!

Have a good week!

The Bath experience

Genuine Victorian Tearooms in Bradford on Avon

Yesterday we headed out of Sussex and down to Bath for the weekend as Steve was giving a talk to the Bath branch of the Avon Beekeepers Association. We had been offered the use of a room in the lovely Georgian B&B house run by the secretary, Glenys Lunt, and her husband George in the nearby town of Bradford on Avon. Having left one boy with his grandparents and another with my friend, Gaby, who also puppy and house-sat, we set off first thing Saturday morning on the nearly 3 hour journey west.

After lunching with a group of the beekeepers at the Bear in Bath, we headed off to the venue just down the road from the pub. It was the AGM (Annual General Meeting) and so after the talk (Bees need Buddies - wildlife gardening for pollinators), and a buffet brought by members, we headed off into Bath to do a little exploring. 

Bath is a beautiful old city in the county of Somerset in South West England, and was first established as a spa with the Latin name, Aquae Sulis ("the waters of Sulis") by the Romans sometime in the AD 60s, about 20 years after they had arrived in Britain (AD43). They built baths and a temple on the surrounding hills in the valley of the River Avon around hot springs. Edgar was crowned king of England at Bath Abbey in 973.

Much later, it became popular as a spa town during the Georgian era, which led to a major expansion that left a heritage of exemplary Georgian architecture crafted from creamy yellow Bath Stone. The City of Bath was inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 1987.

There were lots of lovely shops in Bath, many gearing up for the Christmas trade

We had dinner in the very atmospheric Cafe Rouge

Later we wandered down to the River Avon to have a look at the horseshoe shaped weir. The River Avon flows through both Bath and Bradford on Avon, and with all the rain we have had recently was very high! The Avon is 75 miles long, although there are just 19 miles (31 km) as the crow flies between the source and its mouth in the Severn Estuary.

Next morning, when the worst of the rain (and sleet!) had passed, we took a walk through Bradford on Avon, and it is indeed a very sweet town (although it would be better if the traffic flow through the town was somehow minimised) with some pretty narrow streets, interesting looking pubs and nice shops.

A faded old hotel sign on the back of a town wall

There was a Christmas Grotto in the grounds of the Old Tithe Barn, a spectacular 14th century monastic stone barn, 51 metres (168 feet) long, with an amazing timber cruck roof. It is one of the country’s finest examples of medieval monastic barns – rightly called ‘the cathedrals of the land’, and originally formed part of a range of farm buildings grouped around an open rectangular yard.

We walked back into Bradford and stopped at the Victorian Teashop to warm up by the fire and scoff a cream tea; rather large scones, home-made jam and cream served with Breakfast tea and coffee.

One of the serving wenches, resplendent in period costume

On the way back to the B&B we crossed the Avon again, although this time the sky was rather bluer!

 Conclusion: a lovely part of Britain, and definitely well worth a visit!

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....