The Urban Beekeeper A Year of Bees in the City

About this book

At a time when the UK bee population is in decline there's no better way to make a difference than to start up your own beehive. Steve Benbow's enormous success with urban beekeeping show's how easy it is to keep bees, whether you're in the city or in the countryside, a beginner or an experienced beekeeper, and you'll never look back once you've tasted your very own sticky, golden honey, or lit a candle made from the beeswax from your beehive.

Steve Benbow is a visionary beekeeper who started his first beehive ten years ago on the roof of his tower block in Bermondsey and today runs 30 sites across the city. His bees live atop the Tate Modern and Tate Britain, Fortnum & Mason and the National Portrait Gallery, and he supplies honey to the Savoy tearooms, Harvey Nichols, Harrods and delis across London. His bees forage in parks, cemeteries, along railway lines and in window boxes, and because of the diversity of the plants and trees in the city, produce far richer honey and greater yields than they would in rural areas.

The Urban Beekeeper is a fact-filled diary and practical guide to beekeeping that follows a year in the life of Steve and his bees and shows how keeping bees and making your own delicious honey is something anyone can do. It is a tempting glimpse into a sunlit lifestyle that starts with the first rays of the morning and ends with the warm glow of sunset, filled with oozing honeycomb, recipes for sensational honey-based dishes, and honey that tastes like sunshine. It is a hugely affectionate but practical diary of a beekeeper's year and the immense satisfaction of harvesting your own delicious honey. Read it and join the revolution.

Customer Reviews

Biography

Steve Benbow is at the heart of the urban beekeeping revolution. With zero experience he built his first hive on his tower-block rooftop ten years ago. Today, he runs hives across London's greatest landmarks, including both Tate galleries, Fortnum & Mason, and The National Gallery, as well as hives in Shropshire and Salisbury. He supplies honey to Fortnum & Mason, Harvey Nichols, the Savoy tearooms and Harrods, chefs including Gordon Ramsay and Marcus Wareing, and sells at local farmers markets and from his studio in Bermondsey. He also runs courses in beekeeping.