The other Sunday, I visited the wilds of Kennington, South London for a one day “Taste of Beekeeping” course by The London Beekeepers Association. This was great value at £30 and ran by people who knew what they were on about.

It turned out to be a good day with talks on Bee history, what you need to start keeping them and even donning a beesuit with veil (worth the 30 quid fee alone!) and seeing a hive in action. Great stuff!

The LBA recommend a weekend 2 day course after the introduction and then being mentored for a year before keeping Bees. The best thing is in the guidelines before the course where they note “When you are handling Bees, it is best to avoid strong perfumes (which distracts them), drinking alcohol (which seems to annoy them) and please wear closed shoes.”

So no Brylcreem on the barnet, nor a couple of shorts at lunchtime and definitely leave the flip-flops at home and you should be alright!

More details on the course at http://www.lbka.org.uk/index.php?page=Courses