"You may not know this, but the landscape of London is dotted with bee hives. They can be found on the rooftop of Fortnum and Mason's, in the grounds of Buckingham Palace, among the Square Mile's skyscrapers, banks and law courts, in the city farms, back yards and council-flat balconies of south London, on the allotments of the west, in a honey co-op in the east end, and in wildlife parks and gardens all over. This book will not only paint a vivid portrait of these intimate, sometimes secret, locations, it will also introduce you to the beekeepers and their bees through the changing seasons. By following the authors throughout a year, it will be part travelogue, part nature guide and part how-to manual for urban dwellers seeking to combine city life with keeping bees. Interviews with a diverse range of urban apiarists, describing where and how they keep their hives, will take the reader on a journey of discovery in which they will meet city workers tending to their bees in their lunch hour, entrepreneurs selling London honey to shops and restaurants, youth workers using beekeeping as a vehicle to help troubled teenagers, and environmentalists trying to green the city by keeping nature's most efficient pollinator. Identifying with these new breed of beekeepers and learning how to keep bees in small, enclosed spaces, cheek by jowl with people, readers will be inspired and encouraged to take up this increasingly popular pastime"--Publisher's description.
