Heading to France....

[Haughton Honey]

Morning all,

I'm heading off to the Burgundy region in France on Sunday for a 4 day trip and wondered if any of the 'Frenglish' apiarists on here knew of any beekeeping suppliers over there that I might be able to visit as I have one full day free.

I'll be staying in the Charolles/La Clayette area.

Thanks in advance.

 

[MMJ100]

Hi,
I did a quick google search for you but came up with nothing.

I have two "cooperative agricol s" near me that both have bees sections.

I don't think they are very "internet wise" but I would suggest you ask locally when you get there. They are always nice people and most helpful

good luck,
Michael

 

[DulwichGnome]

When I was in France last year the person I was staying with had a regional magazine which had adverts for a couple of places to visit. The talk was the basic 'this is a bee, this is a hive, this is honey which we sell' and in French but they were happy for me to look around while it was on.

Mike.

 

[nelletap]

I find that if I want to do an online search for somewhere like France, instead of using google.com or google.co.uk I use www.google.fr (every country has its own google). the layout is just the same so even if your knowledge of French isn't too good, you can deduce 'recherche' is to search and 'j'ai de la chance' is the 'I'm feeling lucky' option - but also with language tools and translation options you can get by fairly well.
This strategy works for any country - looking for accommodation in Canada when you go on holiday? try www.google.ca
here is one link I found which may be a good starting point
http://www.apiculteur.com/
The thing I love about France is it is like the rural england of my childhood - still so much local activity whether it is agriculture or other thriving businesses. It is a far better place to get knitting wool now than the UK, plus leather handbags - indeed many natural goods. I highly recommend some of the DIY places like Leroy Merlin and the woodworking and joinery place Lapere. In the latter, if you need a new door you can take in the old one, buy the new one and they then put on all the hinges etc to matchg the old door. No one has told me how you avoid being burgled in teh interim - but it is so sensible!
tricia

 

[RoofTops]

Probably a bit far from where you are going (200km?) but Nicotplast are based in Maisod. The hive stuff is all the wrong size for the UK but they do some good queen rearing stuff.

 

[Haughton Honey]

The thing I love about France is it is like the rural england of my childhood - still so much local activity whether it is agriculture or other thriving businesses. It is a far better place to get knitting wool now than the UK, plus leather handbags - indeed many natural goods. I highly recommend some of the DIY places like Leroy Merlin and the woodworking and joinery place Lapere. In the latter, if you need a new door you can take in the old one, buy the new one and they then put on all the hinges etc to matchg the old door. No one has told me how you avoid being burgled in teh interim - but it is so sensible!
tricia

Thank you all for your pointers.

Yes Tricia, it certainly is refreshing getting out there.....and, to date, we haven't yet been burgled! Fortunately for me, my other half speaks fluent French (I can just about order a beer)

I'm hoping to hook up with a local beekeeper (200 hives) who currently works for EDF as an engineer and who is hoping to go full-time honey farming in a couple of years.

 

[Ulsterfry]

You could look here

You can see several links to the French Beekeepers' Associations on this site:

www.rucherustique.com