Beekeeping taster day

Taster days are 2-3 hour introductory sessions taking place mostly outside at the beehives and finishing with tea and scones. The aim of the Taster Day is to give you an idea of what handling bees is like (we have to hope for good weather) and we will spend some time inside going through basic equipment. We want you to handle the frames, find the Queen, see the eggs, grubs, workers and honey on the frames. We want to give you the opportunity to ask all the questions you can think of (please come armed with questions) and help you to identify whether you want to take up beekeeping or not. We hope you will of course, as we know that most people absolutely love beekeeping once they have started.

All equipment including veils and gloves will be provided. Please wear thick, old trousers and bring wellingtons. You may also like to bring a camera - as you might get some wonderful pictures of bees.

Classes held at Bill Quay Community Farm on the 18th and 25th of April will cost £20. The class will start at 2.30pm and finish at 17.30pm.

The class held in Lanercost on the 17th of April starts at 2pm and finishes at 16pm, and will cost £15. The class at Stamfordham on the 1st of May, starts at 2.30pm and finishes at 16.30pm, and will cost £15.

Kym and Mark Prichard are keen beekeepers and, though until recently they kept bees just for the joy of the hobby (and for the pleasure of the honey), their attitude has changed in recent years. The problems that exist in the countryside have made them see another side of beekeeping, which they were hardly aware of before. They are passionately keen to save the environment and one of the key factors for that is to rebuild the bee population - which is catastrophically low at present with feral bees now almost extinct. So they decided to do what they can to encourage new people into beekeeping – the more people keeping bees, the better chance there is of reintroducing the feral bee and pollinating the countryside. And also they like meeting new people.