The BeeHolder, Jabuary 2010

At the Glansevern Food Festival we were approached by the new Warden of Gregynog Hall, Karen Armstrong. She asked if we would put up a display about bees for the public at Gregynog. We answered that we would want to do more than just display: what we wanted/needed was a training apiary: something that would benefit both parties

Karen is dedicated to encouraging greater use of Gregynog; she wants to see people walk to grounds and be involved with activities there.

School parties and education classes will definitely rid Gregynog of its somewhat elitist image

I am amazed at how many MBKA members have never heard of Gregynog, and many more have never been there. You just don’t know what you are missing! It’s a wonderful place with an interesting history: a romantic tale of two vibrant, art-loving sisters, with a fantastic social conscience, who gave their fortune and art collection to the Welsh Nation. (Some would say “back to the Welsh Nation” .... follow the history it is tear-jerking stuff).

Gregynog is almost equidistant from every corner of Montgomeryshire . It has a tea room, full conference facilities and wonderful grounds which the family can use whilst the beekeeper is hard at work over the hives.

It is part of the University of Wales. We have been given a site of 13 m roughly E/W by 17m roughly N/S. The picture, above left, is facing south and shows a 6’ man standing where Gregynog propose we erect a viewing shelter. Beyond the man is a public path so the viewing shelter would have to be sufficiently tall to force the bees upwards and over the heads of visitors. A glass and mesh front to the shelter would protect the public from flying bees

The picture on the right shows the full width of 13m. The 17m depth ends by the stump of the tree in the centre.

The site is 100m east of the car park and 200m east of Gregynog’s reception area. 100m further east of the site is the little rustic hut (shown below left) half of which we can use as a storage and honey-extracting area. There is good quality foraging close by: The estate is not “organic” but is run sensitively. Beekeepers outside the estate always had lots of excellent honey. Obviously we will first have to fence off the area but this must be done in such a way as to allow the public to see the bees. Access into the 13 x 17m enclosure will be limited to MBKA members under supervision. John Beavan, our SBI, is keen to be a supervisor/trainer and Bill Downie has made some valid practical suggestions as to the rules under which the apiary could be managed.

Warden Karen Armstrong insists that everything is “top quality”. This is a constraint that will ultimately work in our favour because it will force us to become professional and take the whole venture seriously. We definitely cannot just dump our old worn-out hives there. The shelter must be in keeping with the quality and rural image that Gregynog projects. It should be open-sided so as to encourage visitors and contain display boards about what is going on.We talked of having video links between the apiary and Gregynog’s reception area. This would be of benefit not only to the general public but also beekeepers who can watch the hives through monitors in the warmth far better than peering over them. The project will be expensive and we should think carefully how we proceed because grants cannot usually be given for projects already started! Any ideas, volunteers and/or sponsors should come to our AGM to discuss the project with SBI John Beavan. It’s a fantastic opportunity for our association and will be of great benefit to beekeeping.