Well, ‘busy bee’ does not even come in to it! It has been a crazy week or two. I have done three children’s school fairs; St Mary’s Amersham, York House and The Royal Masonic School. All of which went very well. and, Betsie has been spreading her wings all the way up to. Preston in Lancashire! I am well on my way to having sold 400 books and then I will be ordering another print run!

My trip to Preston was really great. The Bee Centre is a fantastic place. It is like an observatory for the honeybees. So well designed. I thoroughly enjoyed chatting to the children and their parents about the honeybees in the observation hive. They laughed when I pointed out ‘an undertaker bee.’ who was pushing along a dead bee and carrying her down to the bottom of the hive. “Why are you laughing?” I said.. “That’s what they are! That’s their job to roll out the dead honeybees… it’s all in the book!” They could gently touch the outside of the glass so they could see how much heat the honeybees generate and they saw a fanning bee in action helping to regulate the temperature. What was not to enjoy?!

I sat reading Betsie Valentine which was a treat for me. I haven’t read it properly for about 3 or 4 months, I just read snippets here and there at talks I give. The people thought there was an audio book on until they spotted me in the corner on a comfy settee with ‘me brew and me book’ connected to a microphone!

Kathy, Simon, their two children, Roxy the dog and all visitors to the centre gave me a true, warm and hearty northern welcome and invited me back to spend World Bee Day with them which I have eagerly accepted!

Below are some images.. all very self explanitory!