My first exposure to beekeeping was when I was a young lad (yes its true I did use to be young once upon a time). We use to visit my aunt and uncle who had a smallholding not far from Wigan where we lived.

I remember walking from my uncle's house down to his orchard where he had his bee hives - what a fantastic setting. Imagine a half acre plot of land full of every variety of apples you could imagine, especially when you are about 13. The trees in full blossom and the dappled light hitting the grass as it passes through the branches of those lovely trees. Looking up to the top of the plot you could see several hives full of activity as these busy little insects fly backwards and forwards doing what they do best. What a fascinating little creature this is. In the summer they only live for a short period of time (roughly six weeks) but during its short life it does some amazing things.

Here I am now, forty-something and a frustrated smallholder living in a big city with no land except for my allotments that I share with my best friend, Luke. I have always wanted livestock (pigs and chickens) but with no land that is a little difficult, so how about bees? This will allow me to have about forty-thousand little pollinators per hive. I was under the impression that you get a hive and some bees then at the end of the year you get lots of lovely honey, don’t you? I decided to find out.