one-day course

build your own beehive

location: nr Penrith, Cumbria

This day is suitable for any responsible adult and child between 10 and 18 to partake in and share in a single hive construction - alternatively an individual can build a hive.

This is a day workshop where you will under supervision, make your own Warré style beehive. The day is a perfect opportunity for Fathers and Sons to work together and make something worthwhile, however any responsible adult child combination is posisble and also just an adult .

There will up to 8 hives being built along with 2 tutors . A hive style most advocated by natural beekeepers it represent a 'Beehive for Bees' rather than for beekeepers.

The Warré hive is a top-bar beehive which differs from a conventional hive mainly in that the bees are encouraged to build their own comb vertically downwards from plain bars rather than in removeable wooden frames as in a conventional hive.

Building their own honeycomb  entirely , as they do in the wild, reduces the incidence of any potential wax borne challenges to a bee health, systemic or residual being passed from generation to generation through the wax.

Using beautiful English Cedar - considered one of the best woods for bees.  Cedar does not absorb moisture from the air in the way other softwoods do. Drier wood feels warmer, is less heat conductive (insulates better) and is less likely to have condensation develop on it. Cedar is lighter weight than other soft woods. It is more weather resistant and stable and does not require the protection of paint. Painting is expensive and time consuming and painted hives trap moisture. Cedar naturally resists attacks from most insects. Bees seem to be more attracted to the smell of cedar than other woods.

dates: see 'book online' below

more on woodworking

more on beekeeping

the venue is a cafe on a coast-to-coast cycle path near Penrith, close to Ullswater and the northern fells of the Lake District