Melksham and District Beekeeping Association put on an introductory course in beekeeping at Lacock.

The one-day course was run in conjunction with the National Trust, which wants to encourage beekeeping to tackle the decline in honey bee numbers across the country.

Participants spent last Thursday learning about the hobby, being introduced to equipment required, and then handling bees themselves.

Course leader Patrick Anderson, from the association, said: “It went very well, the people that came thoroughly enjoyed themselves. We went through the basics and then got them to actually handle the bees. I think they were amazed at how calm and at ease things were.”