BEEKEEPING COURSE 2027
ABOUT US
The Epping Forest Honey Co. team have over twenty years of beekeeping experience between them and work as trainers for the Epping Forest Beekeepers’ Association, as well as running Bee Experiences and Courses for charitable and commercial events. Robin is a trained Exam Assessor for the British Beekeeping Association (BBKA).
We are members of the Bee Farmers’ Association and between us run nearly two hundred colonies of bees in North London and West Essex. We provide bees and honey to farm shops, restaurants, farmers’ markets and other retail outlets in North London and West Essex.
The course will put you in a position where you will be able to keep your bees safely and competently. Many of our students from 2025 and 2026 were able to harvest honey by the end of the summer.
We will set the dates for the 2027 in early spring. The courses will be a theory evening (approx. 6.30pm start) and two full practical days. We will have two sets of dates and you can select either
Email us to be on the reserve list or register interest for next year.
We are now in a position to provide our two beekeeping course dates for spring 2026.
The practical sessions will be
16th and 23rd May OR 7th and 14th June. The times will be approximately 9/9.30am until 4pm
There will be a theory evening approximately two weeks earlier and from approximately 6pm.
The course will take place at our training unit in Upshire.
The cost will be £210 which is un-refundable once booked but transferable.
The Haynes Bee Manual is crucial to your beekeeping and we will refer to it during the course. It is available for approximately £15 on Ebay. It makes excellent winter reading.
At present we have at least twenty potential students and have released the dates to limited people in the strict order that they showed interest. We will release to the next batch in three days time and so on. The individual dates are strictly on first come first served basis.
We understand that this time of year can be expensive and are happy to take 50% deposit with the rest payable before 31st January.
Katy is dealing with bookings and payments. Should you wish to book please reply to both of us and Katy will provide payments details.
Should you no longer be interested then please let us know so we can release to others.
Robin Harman Katy Langley
Epping Forest Honey Buzzed Off Honey
Robin Harman0797 123 7312
The course is intensive and it is imperative that you are able to attend all three sessions.
The theory evening will firstly consist of a presentation around the history of beekeeping, the lifecycle of honeybees, what equipment and bees to purchase and where to locate your beehives.
The two practical days will get you used to handling honeybees along with general management lessons (locating the queen, queen cells, disease, room, extracting honey and ensuring sufficient winter food, making frames). We will also have an ongoing WhatsApp group for support
The cost is £210
A copy of the Haynes Bee Manual (Ebay £15) is crucial to your early years as a beekeeper.
The course will be held at our Upshire (Dallance Farm) apiary where there is ample parking. The nearest train station is Waltham Abbey three miles away.
All protective equipment will be supplied along with hot and cold drinks
Once booked your course is not refundable but is transferable .
FURTHER INFPRMATION ABOUT THE COURSES
The first part of the course will be a theory evening and will deal with
- What to expect from keeping honey bees
- The life cycle of the honey bee and the annual work of the beekeeper
- How, what and where to buy bees and equipment and establish your apiary
- The management of swarming, disease and feeding
- How to extract and bottle honey
Plus joining a beekeeping association, insurance and more
Please wait until after this session before buying equipment or bees.
PRACTICAL BEEKEEPING SESSIONS
The second part of the course will take place on consecutive weekend days at one of our London/Essex border apiaries.
You will be given protective equipment and shown how to put into practice the theory of beekeeping learned so far; you will learn to light a smoker, use tools, manipulate a hive of bees and identify the elements of the colony.
We will demonstrate the management of pests and disease, swarming and overwintering, and discuss the weekly and seasonal work necessary for you to keep bees successfully and competently.
Our courses are two full days with an evening theory session for about three hours, around two weeks before, a total of about twenty hours
The cost is £210, including all equipment and liquid refreshments.
BOOKING THE BEEKEEPING COURSE
To book a place on the course please email Katy at buzzedoffhoney@gmail.com
Should bad weather result in cancellation or postponement of the course you will have the option to re-schedule or receive a full refund.
Further information please contact either Robin on 07971 237312
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Beekeeping courses, local beekeeping courset
