Last year I noticed that there was a colony of bees living in the base of a red wood tree near my garden gate. As wasn’t too bothered about them at the time as the place was more or less a building site.

One of the bees

Then, a couple of weeks ago my father was stung by one of them as he passed and yesterday as I was pottering around, there was a great hum and swarming of the bees that started around 2:45pm and lasted for 20 minutes or so after which they seemed to have spread-out and became very active around the locality of the hive. I’d guess it was a fair size colony as they made an impressive noise.

Home, sweet (bee) home!

I haven’t got a problem with them (my father can take a sting or two!) but there are now a number of small children living in the area that could stumble across the hive and who knows what could happen.

So I’d like to ask if anyone knows what should I do to remove any risk? I could fence around the tree which will stop anyone getting at the hive itself, but then there’s still this afternoon swarming to contend with and a fence is not really going to protect anyone from a determined set of bees.

The bees (those small dots) ’swarming’

I don’t really want to kill them off, but are there any other options….?

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So far in this series of my favourite things at the barn I’ve focussed on original features, this is the first of the new features we’ve introduced during the conversion.

We chose these oak beams instead of steels to support the first floor for a couple of reasons. From a ‘healthy house’ perspective we minimised the use of metal in the building and aesthetically the oak beams help maintain an attractive link to the buildings history.

There are two beams in the main room of the barn - each weighing in at around 3/4 of a tonne. It will be nice to see them sanded and finished as they are currently water stained and blackened, but still attractive to the eye.

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I’m a little late in posting this as it was taken a couple of months ago, but I think it’s worth adding as it gives a feeling of the internal space on the first floor as it starts to take shape.

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The Code for Sustainable Homes is an essential read for anyone considering a sustainable home building project. In its own words:
The Code for Sustainable Homes has been introduced to drive a step-change
in sustainable home building practice. It is a standard for key elements of
design and construction which affect the sustainability of a new home.
It is [...]

The term BREEAM is one that I’ve come across in various contexts over the course of this project and thought I’d better find out what it means…
BREEAM is a widely used environmental assessment method for buildings. The assessments are carried out by qualified practitioners. For many types of development, assessments are a prerequisite.
Through application of [...]