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The Beekeeper's Wife

Hello, and welcome to Bath Bees. We’re a small, family run beekeeping business based in rural Wiltshire, just a stone’s throw (or a bee’s flight) from the beautiful city of Bath.

My husband, Richard, is the beekeeper. It all began when I gave him a hive and a place on a beekeeping course for his birthday. Little did I know what it would lead to! He now has dozens of hives spread across the local countryside, and teaches the course that he originally attended as a student.

Our busy lives (raising three noisy but lovely children) now revolve almost entirely around the beekeeping calendar. No more long summer holidays away from home - the needs of the bees must come first! I have come to expect that any plans or trips away might be delayed or even cancelled due to the demands of the bees. There is always something bee-related that MUST be done: frames to be made, honey to be extracted, swarms to be collected, queens to be pampered. Our house is often full of equipment and contraptions, sticky doors and floors, and bees trying to get in through the window to reclaim their honey - sometimes thousands of them! Ask any partner of a beekeeper and they will tell you that beekeeping can be an all-consuming hobby, and often an obsession.

On the plus side, however, there’s never any shortage of delicious honey or wonderful beeswax. In fact, we had so much beeswax accumulating in our shed that I started exploring what could be done with it. I began experimenting with homemade lip balms, candles, hair balms, and hand creams - all of which used our own beeswax and honey. We used these ourselves and gave them away to friends and family – who kept asking for more.

Following the adage, 'if you can’t beat them, join them’ Richard and I have now joined together to develop a range of products under the name Bath Bees. Richard looks after the bees, the bees contribute the honey and the beeswax, and together we work on the design and the creation of the products.

Varsha Rickitt
The Beekeeper's Wife

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