Clare sympathetically debunked the idealised portrayal of Brother Adam, but was very informative on the history of the apiary. She has an interesting take on the role of a beekeeper (of course!) and working with the bees, which is the focus of her new book. She has a strong knowledge of the monastery and the community and is keen to focus on education and not commercial honey production for the abbey. She explained that Br Adam gained his role when his asthma prevented his 11 year old lungs from fulfilling the role his German mother envisaged for him as a Benedictine Stone mason, so he moved to shadow the cook who was the beekeeper. His organisation and stubbornness made beekeeping his passion, and ultimately he became a romanticised persona. When he was dying the abbey told him they wouldn’t carry on with his work which devastated him.  Clare took over 3 years ago, as she was approached by the abbey as a local beekeeper. She runs workshops for SEND adults and children, ex service therapy sessions, zooms and educational days/weekends. She said it’s a Benedictine mission to educate and be charitable, so she invited me! She stated that her friend who is the optician in the village, travelled with Br Adam to South Africa and he apparently exaggerated and chose evidence to support his opinion which wasn’t accurate (misidentified bees). He also thought the Buckfast bees were immune to the Isle of White disease but made errors with his outcomes. Quirky insights and very interesting but not what I expected.

I’ve got some cut comb for us to try on Saturday from her bees. She also gave me a lovely tour of the abbey and grounds and showed me her spinning and storage unit. She’s writing a book which she’s going to send a copy to for the association. Lovely afternoon!