A beekeeper's guide to straw skep-building, including sections on bee history and mythology, practical skep beekeeping, and making honey and wax products.

Dating back to Anglo-Saxon times, the bee skep is essentially an upturned lipwork basket with a small bee entrance near the base. Offering a less intensive industrialised environment than the box hives widely used today, skeps are friendlier to the bees' way of working and – properly used – can be better for their health and resilience.

Perhaps you've considered moving away from box hives yourself and revitalising ancient beekeeping traditions? With no full-time skep-makers in the UK, the practice is on Heritage Craft's Red List of endangered crafts so you may need to make your own.

Master skep maker and beekeeper Chris Park helps you learn these revered skills with step-by-step photographic guidance on skep construction, as well as instructions for making the protective straw cone or 'hackle' to go over the top. He provides tips on settling swarms and managing colonies using traditional techniques, and for harvesting your honey and honeycomb, draining them into jars and producing mead and candles.

Woven into this is a rich potted history of skep beekeeping, its folklore and heritage, and an exploration of honey's medicinal properties, offering up a wealth of knowledge as you perfect your skep-making skills.