I. Bees in our Time
Bees in our Time
What bees can teach us, and what they need from us
Bees are at the heart of everything we do. We show children and adults how bees live, what they need to thrive, and how each of us can help them in spite of the pressures facing our natural world. And we do it in the footsteps of a local man who watched his bees more closely than anyone of his age.
Why bees matter
Honeybees, bumblebees and solitary bees, along with the hoverflies, butterflies, moths and beetles that work alongside them, pollinate many of the crops we eat and the wild plants that birds and animals depend on. When pollinators thrive, the whole landscape thrives with them.
Yet bees face real threats: loss of flowers and nesting places, pesticides, a changing climate, and countryside that is broken into isolated pockets. Understanding how bees live is the first step to helping them.
What we offer
- School visits and assemblies: interactive bee story sessions led by Barbee and Beekeeper Ken. Our primary school assemblies have reached well over 1,000 pupils.
- Talks for adult groups: for groups such as the U3A and local clubs, including sessions adapted for people with hearing or sight loss.
- What's all the Buzz about? Our bee display at community fayres, markets and shows.
- Local honey: from our own hives, helping to fund our work.
The Father of English Beekeepers
Charles Butler was Rector of Wootton St Lawrence, just outside Basingstoke, in the early 1600s. A schoolmaster and a careful observer, he kept bees and wrote down what he saw. His book The Feminine Monarchie, first published in 1609, was the first full-length book on beekeeping in English, and it was Butler who showed that the great bee at the head of the colony is a queen, not a king.
Over 400 years later, his story still connects people to the land around Basingstoke. We carry it into classrooms, village halls and community events as a reminder that paying close attention to nature is where caring for it begins.
What a visit looks like
Children meet Barbee, explore a real hive frame and beekeeping equipment, taste local honey, and find out how a colony works together through the seasons. Every session ends with simple things they can do to help pollinators at school and at home.
In October 2026 we visited Prince's Mead School near Winchester, where more than 200 children joined in. We are now looking to take the bee story into secondary schools in 2027.