This the story of how, over the course of a year, Alys Fowler, the Guardian gardening writer, learns how to keep bees; and Steve Benbow, the urban beekeeper, learns how to plant a pollinator-friendly garden.
Part beautifully designed coffee-table book, part manifesto, this collection of engaging letters, emails, texts, recipes, notes and glorious photos creates a record of the trials, tribulations, rewards and joys of working with, rather than against, nature. And along the way, you will pick up a wealth of advice, tips and ideas for growing food and keeping pollinators well fed.
Letters to a Beekeeper is for lazy gardeners, novice beekeepers and everyone in between. It is the best rule-breaking, wildlife-friendly, guerilla, urban gardening, insect-identifying, honey-tasting, wax-dripping, epistolary how-to book you could ever hope to own.
Steve Benbow (@Londonhoneyman) runs the London Honey C ompany which he set up
twelve years ago from the roof of an ex-council block in Tower Bridge. It now has hives
on the roof of Fortnum and Mason, Tate Modern and the National Portrait Gallery. Random
House published his first book The Urban Beekeeper in 2012.
Alys Fowler (@AlysFowler) likes growing food and flowers. Her flowers are a bit too far
away for Steve's bees, so she's keeping the pollinators of Birmingham happy instead. She
has written four books, presents gardening programmes on TV (including her own show
The Edible Garden) and writes for the Guardian. She likes wild swimming, riding bikes and
cooking.