Tucked away in London's St James, St Ermin's luxury four-star hotel is not where you would imagine finding a rooftop colony of over 300,000 bees.
These amazing insects collect local nectar — probably quite a bit from nearby Buckingham Palace — to produce the hotel's own delicious honey.
Throughout September, St Ermin's runs a number of honey-themed events including lunches, afternoon tea, cocktails and even bee-keeping courses.
Joining Camilla Goddard, the hotel's own beekeeper, I spent an afternoon learning all about these complex insects.
Each hive has its own queen, and about 55,000 workers (all female) who collect nectar and pollen from a three-mile radius of the hive.
During each trip the worker bee visits 50 to 100 flowers and makes ten to 20 trips a day, all this to produce about half a teaspoon of honey in her short lifetime. Collectively, they fly around a mind-boggling 55,000 miles to make one 450g jar.
After learning theory, we indulged in a spot of honey-tasting. The hotel's honey contains about 53 varieties of flowers giving it a delicious floral flavour.
It was then time to get kitted up in our bee suits and get some hands-on experience. I was a little cautious at first, but there was nothing to worry about. The bees seemed very calm and not bothered about being handled.
After a short while, the queen was spotted. Unsurpisingly, she is much bigger than the workers.
I also had the chance to marvel at these incredible architects — a honeycomb is a real work of art and the colony a perfect example of team work. The next time I slather honey on toast I will certainly give it more thought.
To round off the afternoon, a cream tea, with honey of course, was served in the lounge and I began to ponder whether my garden is big enough for a hive or two.
- To find out more about preserving the bee population in urban areas, St Ermin's Hotel runs urban beekeeping workshops for individuals and can arrange bespoke team building courses for corporate groups.
- St Ermin’s Hotel, 2 Caxton Street, London SWIH OHW; tel + 44 (0)20 7222 7888; sterminshotel.co.uk
Annie Harris
