Prize draw: win The Urban Beekeeper by Steve Benbow, plus a jar of honey made by his bees

Urban beekeeper? Urban hero, more like. We’ve been fans of Steve Benbow, a professional beekeeper, since we first saw his hives (on TV) on the rooftop of Fortnum and Mason. Then we tasted the honey from those same hives: it is unbelievably delicious and subtle, and a favourite of many chefs including Gordon Ramsay and Marcus Wareing. London is in fact, a great place for bees and honey production, as it has a much more diverse range of plant, flower and tree life than in many rural areas (where things like massive rape crops are calamitous for bees), and certainly the (prize winning) Brixton honey made by our neighbours is as good as we’ve ever had. Yep, you may well have a neighbour who keeps bees too or perhaps you are thinking about it yourself. A hive is the new allotment, it seems, and Benbow makes a good, if self effacing, guru. His book, The Urban Beekeeper, is a lovely read. Part diary, part practical guide, part notebook (it includes recipes, lists and notes as well as more conventional prose), it follows a year in Benbow’s life as he moves the heart of his beekeeping operation from Shropshire to London, where he now has 30 sites across the city (including both Tate galleries and The National Gallery as well as Fortnum and Mason). The book is also a tale of adventure. Things go wrong as well as right; Benbow never has quite enough money to cover mishaps or accidents, the winter and the threat of disease means life is perilous for both his bees and his business and the diary format means you experience the life of the bees, along with Benbow, month to month. We love this book, and so have snagged three copies to give away, as well as three pots of Benbow’s famous London honey. To win this lovely treat – a hardback copy of the book and a pot of honey – fill in the form below by 5pm on Friday 29th June, when we’ll pick three lucky names out of a hat.

Prize: Three copies o f The Urban Beekeeper by Steve Benbow plus three jars of Benbow's honey
Fill in your details below and we will pick out the winner(s) by random.
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