How to be a beekeeper

by James Hamill

Beekeeping isn’t rocket science. A lot of it is common sense and keeping the bees and hive spotlessly clean. You don’t need lots of space; a small garden is fine.

I’ve been running weekend courses at my Surrey farm for would-be beekeepers for 20 years and my most basic advice is: don’t cut the wrong corners. You can scrimp on the peripheral kit such as the smoker but make sure you get good protective clothing and professionally bred bees, not an unknown swarm. And don’t buy a used hive because there can be disease in the wood. You might pay £200 or so for a beehive, another £200 for bees and perhaps £100 for a good beesuit. But the nice thing is you are set for life — they’ll all outlast you.

Nothing can describe the magnificent flavour of your very own honey. A typical urban honey harvest is 70-100 jars, while a countryside harvest is around 50 jars because there are fewer flowers and the bee has to travel to collect the nectar.

Above all, you get the fascination of looking after these wonderful creatures. Being with bees is magical and therapeutic: you feel blessed to have this time with them.

James’s London beekeeping store, The Hive Honey Shop, is abuzz with goodness thehivehoneyshop.co.uk

… enjoy Burgundy wines by Jasper Morris MW

Burgundy should be easy to understand. You only get one grape variety in the bottle, though the French won’t let you put the name on the label. Pinot noir (for the reds) has been there forever, while Chardonnay is more recent.

Everything else is ridiculously complicated. There are more than 100 appellations, many hundreds of named vineyards and a few thousand individual producers, often with tiny holdings spread across a dozen or more patches of vine, each making a separate wine.