A Perthshire Beekeeper Athole Kirkwood's Beekeeping Diary

Perthshire, one of the most diverse and beautiful areas of Scotland, was the district where Athole Kirkwood had undertaken to put down roots, resolving to establish himself in

full time beekeeping.

The area couldn't have been more perfect. It was renowned for its soft fruit farms in the valleys of the Tay and Earn, ideal for a delicious early flower honey, and in the north the county featured the foothills of the Highlands and the vast sweeps of bell and ling heather crucial for the later crop fundamental to a Scottish honey farm. The only real problem was the weather!

The diary he began in Glasgow at the age of 17, when his fascination with bees began to take hold, recounts the often bumpy ride to success and reveals the determination of a man totally convinced, in spite of many warnings to the contrary, that a large honey farm could thrive in Scotland.

This is his journey.