I have been keeping honey bees since the age of 14 and was brought up on the traditional German / Slovakian / Latvian Hives and the principles of the bee shed whilst living abroad in Germany. I gained my knowledge and understanding of bees alongside my father, whilst under the watchful eye and careful instruction of my father’s friend (and Bienenmeister) Theo Jacobs.

By the age of 40 I was running a commercial operation with my father in Norfolk on a large organic farm using National, Langstroth and Commercial hives.  We produced and supplied full Colonies, Nucleus and Queens and at the end of the season had honey for sale.  Above all the bees and queens we produced were of high quality and had the benefits of living in a pesticide free environment.

Unfortunately my father is no longer with us and as such I scaled back the commercial operation to make things more manageable.  I moved to Cambridgeshire for a new start and established myself in the Fens.  Nowadays I keep a modest number of colonies for instruction and training purposes and to help me keep the bees as self-sustaining as possible.  This is achieved by producing throughout the season quality, locally bred, disease resistant bees in nucleus boxes and when available queens, bees and honey for sale.   

I am and will always remain a very professional and passionate beekeeper who is dedicated to keeping the bees in my care as healthy as possible, thus helping to ensure that the populations of honey bees that we have are healthy and are able to continue to survive.  I, like all other beekeepers, achieve this by conducting regular inspections of our domestic colonies for both disease and virus identification, treating colonies when required and eradicating Ecto and Endo parasitic infection and disease to help prevent its spread.  Also, when required, we allow access to all our colonies for inspection by regional bee inspectors and help supply research data when asked.

As a dedicated bee keeper and keen gardener (along with my wife) we are always trying to establish bee friendly plants in our garden and take every opportunity to encourage others when they visit us to do the same.  We aim to ensure that all bees, and not just our honey bees, benefit from our sympathetic planting and continue to survive into the future.