Local Honey Llywell

Honey, beeswax and hands-on beekeeping sessions from Brecon Beecombs, a woodland apiary at The Good Life Wales in Llywel, Powys, looking across to Pen y Fan in the Brecon Beacons. Roger Swain keeps his own bees here and also looks after bees for clients of his gardening business.

The two-hour Meet the Bees session covers how a hive fits together, then you suit up, learn to light a smoker and open a hive to look for the queen, finishing with a walk through the woodland, where habitats have been made for wild bees as well as honey bees (minimum age 16). The one-day Introduction to Beekeeping course adds a classroom morning with an observation hive and a practical hive inspection in the afternoon. Holiday cottages on the same site suit visitors from further away.

Brecon Beecombs also sells its honey, beeswax products, hives and hive parts. Businesses can sponsor a hive in return for jars of its honey, and there are sessions in a woodland Hivepod built above a working hive. Get in touch to buy honey.