Bee Friendly: Why Shropshire border castle is buzzing
A castle on the Shropshire border has become the first National Trust property in Wales to be officially recognised as Bee Friendly.
Chirk Castle now has its own bee keeper who has placed hives on the large estate.
Visitors are being reassured that the bees colonies are being sited well away from the public areas of the site.
John Beavan recently brought several hives to castle grounds and is passing on his knowledge in public demonstration days when groups can get dressed up in bee suits and peer into a hive to see how it works.
The Welsh Assembly has launched a Bee Friendly scheme which seeks to help all pollinators by creating a nation of pollinator-friendly communities and organisations.
Bee Friendly is aimed at communities and community organisations, schools, public bodies, town and community councils, businesses, universities and colleges, places of worship and many other organisations, all around Wales.
Visitor services manager at the castle, Jon Hignett, said: "We are also very proud at Chirk to have recently become the first National Trust property in Wales to have been accredited as bee-friendly under the new Welsh government scheme."
The four goals of Bee Friendly are providing pollinator-friendly food sources, providing places for insect pollinators to live, committing to avoid chemicals that harm pollinators and involving all the community and telling people why you are helping pollinators.
Mr Beavan has placed hives across areas of the estate, away from public footpaths.
He has also created an observation bee hive closer to the castle to special events.
There will be a drop-in session with the bee keeper on August 18 and in September he will lead an event showing people how honey is extracted.
The castle is also getting involved in National Meadows day.
