The bee boles were built for skeps, the baskets in which bees were kept before the invention of the beehive. It’s good to see old buildings put to new uses.
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Showing posts with label bee boles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bee boles. Show all posts
Thursday, 24 March 2016
Goats in Bee Bole
The new kid is now 19 days old and finding its feet; quick and agile on steep slopes, but not yet able to cross over fences. For the time being the kid and its mum are separate from the rest of the gang, unable to get over fences, although today there was a second female or aunt in attendance.
This morning’s weather was foul, cold and wet. As I drove up the hill, the kid and its mum were on the drive in front of me, just above the lower hairpin. They stared at my car for a while, but as the intensity of the rain increased, it was time for shelter. They ran up the slope and took refuge in one of the bee boles. The mum ushered in the kid, then squeezed in herself; a tight fit with her horns touching the ceiling.
The bee boles were built for skeps, the baskets in which bees were kept before the invention of the beehive. It’s good to see old buildings put to new uses.
The bee boles were built for skeps, the baskets in which bees were kept before the invention of the beehive. It’s good to see old buildings put to new uses.
Sunday, 21 October 2012
Dolmelynllyn
AGMs can be
stuffy formalities but I really enjoyed the Snowdonia Society’s. Eighteen of us
met at the Ganllwyd village hall for a pre-meeting walk led by Rhodri Wigley,
the National Trust’s ‘ranger’ for Meirionnydd. Autumn colours, warm sun and blue
sky brought out the best in the woodlands above Dolmelynllyn.
I had looked
at the front of Dolmelynllyn Hall many times and admired the elaborate first floor
bay window but never realised until Rhodri explained that is was built with the
uprights of a four poster bed, its headboard and footboard.
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| Rhodri at Rhaedr Ddu |
Much work
has been done in recent years leading up to last year’s 75th
anniversary of the property being in National Trust ownership. Among the many
buildings on the estate is Nant Las, a romantic one bedroom self-catering
cottage which used to be the observatory. Below it, the pond has been renovated
with a new concrete outflow to channel stormwater onwards to the river below. I’d
noted the work when driving past on the main road and had wondered what was the
point of the boulders in the otherwise smooth outflow. They are intended to
provide breaks in the current for exhausted salmon making their way upstream; until
now the bottom of the outflow was the highest point they have reached.
The
restoration of the bee bole wall posed some discussion. Could there really have
been 46 skeps (wicker basket type hives) in this many alcoves? Air traffic
control would have been a bit like Heathrow. Here’s some footage of the
stonemason at work re-building the wall in 2011.
Sadly the restoration
of an old tree we passed is beyond the miracles of the National Trust and the
colony of tree lungwort will perish when it eventually falls.
 |
| Tree lungwort |
After lunch
in the village hall we held our AGM with the only sticky point being an
exchange of views on developments at the Llanbedr airfield. More tea and cakes
were followed by an enjoyable talk from John Lloyd Jones titled ‘A farmer’s
view of Snowdonia’.
 |
| Who's been sitting on my bench? |
Saturday, 28 May 2011
Boles!
Boles are alcoves or shelves built into walls to house skeps of bees, the way it was done before the invention of efficient, wooden beehives. By placing the skep in the alcove it would be protected from the worst of the rain and insulated from the cold on 3 sides.
Towards the bottom of our drive are a couple of derelict buildings with bee boles, one called Beekeepers Cottage. ‘Our’ bee boles are beautiful, dry-stone constructions, but a bit run down.
Just down the road towards Dolgellau, at Dolmelynllyn Hall, the National Trust are restoring their wall of bee boles. It’s a case of one-upmanship, not just a few but 46 boles!
On 5th June 2011 they are holding an open day to celebrate 75 years of the property being in National Trust ownership. This event will include an expert on hand to explain the traditions of bee-keeping with skeps on display. The wall and the skeps will not be used for bee-keeping as this is not good for the welfare of the bees compared to modern hives.
If you miss the open day it’s still a sight worth seeing. The old house was the one time home of William Madocks, builder of the Cob at Porthmadog, and is now a characterful hotel and restaurant.
Towards the bottom of our drive are a couple of derelict buildings with bee boles, one called Beekeepers Cottage. ‘Our’ bee boles are beautiful, dry-stone constructions, but a bit run down.
Just down the road towards Dolgellau, at Dolmelynllyn Hall, the National Trust are restoring their wall of bee boles. It’s a case of one-upmanship, not just a few but 46 boles!
On 5th June 2011 they are holding an open day to celebrate 75 years of the property being in National Trust ownership. This event will include an expert on hand to explain the traditions of bee-keeping with skeps on display. The wall and the skeps will not be used for bee-keeping as this is not good for the welfare of the bees compared to modern hives.
If you miss the open day it’s still a sight worth seeing. The old house was the one time home of William Madocks, builder of the Cob at Porthmadog, and is now a characterful hotel and restaurant.
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