Honeybees and their World - Two Days

If you have eaten fruit today it probably developed from a flower that was pollinated by honeybees. If you have eaten honey today, do you know where it came from, what’s in it or why it tastes the way it does? Do you know the difference between set and runny honey, how and why bees swarm, why you swell up when they sting you, or what drone bees (the males) do in the winter? If you’d like to learn more, we’d love to welcome you to this course.    

During this two-day course, we will: 

• Learn about the social organisation of honeybees, including why and how they swarm, how they can tell one another where to find nectar sources even at a distance of several miles, and how they decide when it’s time to change queens. 
• Meet the members of a honeybee colony close-up - queen, workers and drones. 
• Discover how much we can learn about what’s going on inside a honeybee colony from what we can see on the outside. 
• Open beehives (weather permitting) to observe the life of a colony first-hand. We will provide bee suits for participants. No one needs to fear being stung. 
• Reflect on the many challenges facing bees and their human companions in the modern world. 
• During the course, there will be several Q&A sessions and plenty of time for wider group discussions. 

Who is this course for? 

It’s for anyone who’d like to know more about the world of the honeybee. You may be a beekeeper, you may be thinking about keeping bees, or you may not. We believe this course, with its wide variety of topics, will have plenty to interest everyone. 

Course tutor Tony Yarrow began keeping bees in Wales in 1975. He worked as a bee expert with two beehive manufacturing companies and has known and worked with some of the UK’s largest commercial beekeepers. Tony keeps 15-20 colonies in four sites in North Oxfordshire, including here at FarmED, producing around half a ton of surplus honey a year for the FarmED café and kitchen. 

Tony will be joined by natural beekeepers Tanya and Esme Hawkes for the honey-tasting session. Cotswold Seeds manager and fellow beekeeper Paul Totterdell will give a talk on the second morning. 

To see the draft agenda, please press here.

Beekeepers are welcome to bring their protective clothing. 

Tiered Pricing

Delivery of our mission is a collective effort and our values embrace inclusivity and diversity. We don’t want price to be a barrier to anyone visiting FarmED or attending our events. Read more about our tiered pricing policy here.

If cost is a barrier to you attending, then please do ask us for financial support. The FarmED Bursary offers free or subsidised places to those that will benefit most.

Cancellation Policy

We understand that there may be times when you need to cancel your booking.  Our cancellation policy is outlined here.