Last week, for the first time I donned a beekeepers suit and got up close and personal with some honey bees at Buckfast Abbey – many thanks to Clare Densley for a unique experience. I’m in the process of putting a proposal together in response to this incredible site, perhaps adopting some of the techniques of the fantastic artist Zimoun. Watch this space!

Larvae inside the honeycomb

Honey Bees making honey!

Buckfast Abbey honey

Buckfast Abbey honey

Honey storage

There may be as many as 60,000 bees in a colony

Queen Bee

Making new honeycomb

The tiny red spec is propolis; a sticky resin used to glue pieces of the hive together

Buckfast Abbey bees

The bees naturally make their own honeycomb, here they’ve gone truly ‘freestyle’ out of the fame

Freestyle honeycomb shapes

There may be as many as 60,000 bees in a colony

Smoker – harmless method of sedating he bees, in order to prevent them getting squashed while moving the frames around.

Head bee-keeper Clare with the observation hive.

Buckfast Abbey Honeycomb

Bees entering/leaving the hive

Centrifuge used to separate honey.

A real melting pot!

Buckfast Abbey Honey Bees

One brave bee keeper!

Observation hive – amazing sounds from inside.