Last week there was a buzz on Twitter when one of our followers alerted us to the huge swarm around the Balmoral.
MASSIVE swarm of bees at princes st @The_Balmoral @EdinReporter @edinspotlight @edinburghpaper pic.twitter.com/Tjw1HydBp0
— Stewart Hardy (@kharashov) July 9, 2016
Nobody seemed to know where they had come from, but now all is revealed as The Balmoral Hotel has announced that they have their own hives on he rooftop. The Edinburgh Reporter has been on the roof of the hotel but this was before the hives were installed.
The 50,000 honey bees have been producing honey for the hotel guests, since the spring of this year when they were installed in their rooftop apiary.
The Italian bees are the first bee colony to take up permanent guest status at any Edinburgh hotel, and The Balmoral has hired beekeeper Brian Pool from Scottish Honey to look after them.
Brian said:
“The bees are enjoying their new home high above the Edinburgh skyline. The conditions are excellent and they’ve been travelling to Calton Hill, the Botanic Gardens and Arthur’s Seat to collect nectar and pollen. So far the bees have produced 20kg of honey and look set to continue working hard through the summer months.”
Brian has been training the team at the hotel’s Michelin-starred restaurant, Number One, to ensure that there’s always someone on-site to look after the hive. The Number One team will work with Brian to oversee the production and ensure that each of the hotel’s restaurants and bars receive their fair share of honey.
Number One Head Chef, Brian Grigor, said:
“We’re thrilled to be working with Scottish Honey on this collaboration and help support this environmentally friendly practice. Brian Pool is a third-generation professional beekeeper with over 40 years of experience, there is no better person placed to look after our five-star bees. It has been fascinating to learn about the honey production process and our team look forward to serving it to our guests this Summer.”
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
