Beekeeping Archives - A Simple Life of Luxury

Bees, Bikes, Burgers, Beers and Buttocks

Alan Cole — Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:31 +0000

The amazing summer weather continues. We haven’t seen a drop of rain for almost three weeks now, and every day has been either hot or very hot. The sea is lovely, the grass is yellow and the trails are dusty. We’re recycling bath water each day to give the struggling garden plants a drink and,...

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Freebies – Free Bees

Alan Cole — Fri, 10 Jul 2026 11:59:42 +0000

We lost a few colonies of bees over the winter. Not only did we lose two small colonies at home, but the bees in our out-apiary at Laura’s house also succumbed. We never had particularly high hopes for them as they were already struggling and then got blown over several times during the autumn and...

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A Long Weekend in West Wales

Alan Cole — Mon, 08 Jun 2026 17:58:00 +0000

West Wales isn’t a bad place to spend a long weekend at home. Both Anna and I were off on Friday, so after an early-ish run around the dunes for me, we headed into town for brunch. We decided to try somewhere new and ended up at Kwizinn, which serves Caribbean-inspired food. It was excellent...

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Weekend Weather Rollercoaster: Rain, Runs, Honey, and Windsurfing

Alan Cole — Mon, 22 Sep 2025 07:54:06 +0000

I think the most notable thing about the weekend was the rain on Saturday. When I got up early, the little raindrop on our home info panel that I built was already full to the brim. The Borth & Ynyslas weather station in our garden had already recorded more than 25 mm of rain. At...

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Honey Harvest 2025

Alan Cole — Sat, 23 Aug 2025 12:48:48 +0000

It’s been our best year yet for honey production. We haven’t finished harvesting, but from three hives we should end up with around 80 lbs of honey—mostly from two hives, as the third wasn’t really a production hive this season. The weather has clearly been kind to bees, judging by the sheer amount of fruit...

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Summer Sunshine, Busy Bees, and a Burst of Colour

Alan Cole — Fri, 20 Jun 2025 14:36:03 +0000

It’s been the hottest day of the year so far, with temperatures at the Borth and Ynyslas Weather Station reaching 28.8°C, and it could get hotter yet. The long days are really helping our solar production too — it’s been a record-breaking year on that front so far, so let’s hope it continues. The bees...

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Boundary Wires, Bees, and BST

Alan Cole — Mon, 31 Mar 2025 17:29:00 +0000

After a busy couple of weeks with a trip to Fuerteventura and then a week at a conference with work, the spring garden was looking a little overwhelming. Things—namely the goosegrass, dandelions, and stinging nettles—were getting out of hand, and I’d yet to get Hector, our robot lawnmower, up and running. Robot Mowers Harriet, the...

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Spring has Sprung

Alan Cole — Fri, 28 Feb 2025 15:05:35 +0000

What a lovely day today. Spring has finally sprung! The garden has another new shed as well, and there are lots of new gardening tools on the way. Hopefully, if I find the time, I’ll get the garden looking nice again. There’s certainly plenty of signs of life out there. The bees are busy, the...

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Another Honey Harvest

Alan Cole — Thu, 17 Oct 2024 10:29:55 +0000

Having harvested some honey a few weeks ago, the bees fought back and stopped us taking any more for a while. One of the hives had honey that, at the time, wasn’t fully sealed, another decided to sting us and prevent us getting any off. So, we left them for a few weeks and then...

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Honey Hostilities

Alan Cole — Mon, 26 Aug 2024 06:04:59 +0000

This weekend was all about the honey harvest! Anna collected the extractor on Friday afternoon and I’d already put clearer boards on a couple of our hives. The ‘Bedroom’ Hive was huge with 4 completely full supers and a fifth that was half full. ‘Dyfi’ hive had two full supers and ‘Leri’ had a couple...

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