A Brief History

Hello and thank you for your interest in our pure local honey produced by our wonderful bees.  My name is Jim Cooper and I first started keeping bees 43 years this season!  When I was 11 years old I was lucky enough to attend a beekeeping course with my father in Suffolk, run by the renowned beekeeper Ted Hooper.

I was hooked from the beginning and the bees still fascinate me all these years later.  We currently have around 50 colonies spread amongst our apiaries in Maidenhead, Bray, Temple, Windsor Great Park, Burnham and Paley Street areas.  

Future plans include increasing our queen bee production and trying to assist various research projects in breeding disease resistant bees, in particular specialising in varroa tolerant queen bees.

I moved to the Thames Valley in 1999 and joined the Slough, Windsor & Maidenhead Beekeepers Society.  It didn't take long for me to be voted onto the committee and I have fulfilled the roles of Apiary Supervisor, Education Co-ordinator, Honey Show Secretary and Chairman. I am also proud to be a member of The Bee Farmers Association, the professional body for beekeeping in the UK.