Bee here now! Build a bee hotel at Rothamsted in Harpenden this summer

Rothamsted Enterprises is holding a ‘Build a Bee Hotel’ event in Harpenden this August.

You can build your own bee hotel at Rothamsted. (Image: ROTHAMSTED RESEARCH)

Rothamsted Conference Centre will open its doors to children this summer for its annual summer crafting week, which takes place from August 2 to August 6.

This year, children are invited to create their own bee hotel.

Claire Flawn, at Rothamsted Enterprises, said: “Much of the work done at Rothamsted is about developing environmentally sustainable solutions for agriculture.

"Bees and other pollinating insects help provide much of the food we eat, and are essential for a healthy environment, which is why it’s crucial to support them.

"We came up with the idea for this year’s summer crafting week to help our local community support the bee population. Making a bee hotel is such fun, and really rewarding when you get your first visitor.

"We’re really looking forward to welcoming people to the campus this August, and hopefully we’ll be helping the local bee population too!”

Megan Relf from Rothamsted Enterprises (Image: ROTHAMSTED RESEARCH)

Bees are facing an unprecedented crisis. They’ve lost much of their natural habitat in the past 60 years – including 97 per cent of wildflower-rich meadows.

And they are under assault from pesticides, intensive farming, and climate change.

By creating bee-friendly spaces where we live, we can start to replace and restore some of this lost habitat and help Britain bloom for bees.

Building a bee hotel. (Image: ROTHAMSTED RESEARCH)

Using a variety of materials, crafters will be given the chance to create their own fabulous Bee Hotel to hang up outside and attract bees and other pollinators to their own gardens.

Guests will also be able to add a special message to Rothamsted’s ‘Tree of Life’, learn about bees and the flowers that attract them with quizzes, word searches and colouring sheets, and go on a wildflower hunt in the garden.

There will also be family-friendly, outdoor games on the lawn outside the Rothamsted café.

Guests will be given their own socially distanced crafting table and an hour and half to create their own special bee hotel.

Crafting will take place inside the centre’s Fowden Hall. Grown-ups can look forward to a range of hot drinks and treats from the onsite café.

Building a bee hotel. (Image: ROTHAMSTED RESEARCH)

Tickets are £6 per person and must be booked in advance.

Visit www.rothamstedenterprises.com/events/ or call 01582 938500.