By: Blonde Two
Let’s check you are not a robot (or at least check that you are awake!) Which of the pictures below shows a beehive?
That’s right, the tall pointy one is the beehive … well they are both taller and pointier than I expected them to be, but one is an abbey. If you are still a bit confused as to which is which; this is probably because the beehive and the abbey are both from Buckfast (a pretty village, delectably squashed between the River Dart and Dartmoor itself).
Yesterday morning, I had a lovely time visiting Gordon and Gill and their bee-filled garden. Bees travel up to three miles from their hives; so these happy Bees from Buckfast (not the same thing as Buckfast Bees) could easily buzz their way up to Dartmoor to sample the heather pollen. To be honest, I can’t see why they would want to; because Gordon and Gill’s garden is a feast of different insect-friendly flowers. However, these little ladies do get about; apparently you can tell where they have been by the different colours of the pollen that they bring home. Especially, if you happen to keep your hives near an M&M Factory (click here for story)!
Gordon and Gill’s love of their bees shone through as they talked to me about their hobby. They take as good care of them as they possibly can, and the result is delicious, all natural, ‘happy’ honey. Gill very kindly served me some up on scones, with Devon clotted cream; I have never eaten honey like that before, but I will certainly be doing so again.
If you want to sample Gordon and Gill’s honey (you should), you can buy some on their website www.buckfastbees.co.uk. It contains nothing but … honey! They take great care to make sure that all of their packaging is all environmentally friendly.
One last word on the wonderful world of bees. A single worker bee (a girl of course), will only make 1/12th of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime; and works until she dies (only 6-7 weeks in the summer).
The drones (boys) are just for sex, die after mating with a queen bee, and eventually get chucked out of the hive!
