My Favourite Reads: The Bad Beekeepers Club - Bill Turnbull

Did you know that Bill Turnbull, off the telly, is also a bee man now, a beekeeper? Yeah, I know. This book is his affable account of taking up beekeeping as a hobby. It is amazing.

This is possibly one of the most unexpected books I have ever read. I found it after looking for books that could teach me something about beekeeping (I was feeling idly curious about bees), and ordered it out of vague intrigue before I even realised it was written by Bill Turnbull, so when I received it in the post and all the cogs in my brain whirred into the correct position, I was newly intrigued and ready to have a good laugh. I was not disappointed.

"I'm sure the makers of Blu-Tack never imagined that their product would one day be used to plug holes in the corner of a beehive."

― Bill Turnbull, The Bad Beekeepers Club

Turnbull's narrative of stumbling through the building blocks of learning to beekeep is remarkably affable and quite sweet. There are tales of getting stung at inopportune moments, tales of trying with gritted teeth to move bees from inconvenient places, tales of bizarre bee-related accidents and countless mistakes, and also lots of genuinely informative bee information. There's a whole heap of funny stories of clumsy beekeeping, but throughout an earnest love and respect for the bees. A really nice read that is both light and filled with heart. And hey - it also teaches you something about bees, and how easy it is to get Bill Turnbull into an embarrassing bee-related situation, so there's a lot going on here, and it's pretty great.