From CPR on the kitchen floor to spinning honey in a shed, Stephen Toop found peace, healing and purpose in beekeeping on a Dorset farm
All images: Courtenay Hitchcock
Exuding the ruddy glow of someone who spends his days outdoors, Stephen Toop sits at a small kitchen table in his cosy farmworker’s cottage. It was in this very kitchen that a near-death experience changed his life – for the better.
A dairy hand since leaving school – his dream job since childhood – Stephen collapsed at home on a break between milkings. His quick-thinking wife Dawn performed CPR, bringing him back to life.
That moment was a turning point: Stephen needed something calmer, where he could be alone. No mobile phone and away from the pressures of modern-day farming. Most of us would likely opt for yoga, but Stephen chose to surround himself with thousands of bees!
‘I chill and chat with my bees,’ he says. ‘They tune into me, and I tune into them. There’s a real connection. The level of their buzzing tells me whether to leave them alone.’
Now running 45 hives across Tarrant Monkton’s Manor Farm, with around 80,000 bees per hive, Stephen has found his sanctuary.
‘I’ve always been fascinated by bees. I’m dyslexic and struggled at school, but a brilliant teacher, Mr Spring – to whom I’m forever grateful – introduced me to environmental studies. The school kept ducks, chickens and bees, and I was able to learn in a practical way which suited me much better.’
Initially, Stephen invested in two garden hives, plus a hot tub as a thank you to Dawn for saving him. Unfortunately, the bees also enjoyed using the tub for water, leading to a stung Dawn!
After chatting with farm bosses James and Barbara Cossins, Stephen was loaned field corners for his expanding hives. He joined a local beekeeping club, gained a first qualification and was allowed to take Saturdays off from his farmwork from May to August to continue his studies.
The bees now play a valuable role on the farm. During what’s known as ‘the spring flow’, they are moved around the fields to pollinate crops. ‘They work in tandem with the farm,’ explains Stephen. ‘Once the oil seed rape is finished, I move them to pollinate the beans.
In the ten years Stephen has been taking hives to the fields, there’s been a significant increase in crop yields. The farm is also experimenting with different grass seeds – chicory, cornflower, red clover and white clover provide bee treats and enhance biodiversity.
The farm has turned areas of unproductive ground into nectar strips for the bees. Barren earth has been transformed into a honeybee highway of wildflowers where bees can rest and refuel.
The smallest livestock
Though beekeeping started as an escape, it’s now Stephen’s second career. His day starts at 3am with the cows, and then he tends his bees between milking sessions. ‘They’re livestock, not just insects you leave in a garden. They must be checked every seven days for diseases and overcrowding, which could lead to swarming.’
In the evenings, his cottage has become a base for a micro-business, producing delicious honey and its by-products. Dawn creates beautiful honey wax melts and candles at the kitchen table. Meanwhile Stephen cracks on with the sticky task of spinning hundreds of pounds of honey in a processing unit in his garden shed.
With real North Dorset provenance, their award-winning Tarrant Valley Honey is sold a few miles away at Rawston Farm Shop and features in dishes at the farm-owned Langton Arms pub. Due to demand for his honey, a website is coming soon.
‘It’s pure goodness in a jar,’ says Stephen. Some customers swear by its medicinal properties, often using it on ulcers and eczema. Stephen discovered the healing effects himself when honey he was spinning inadvertently soaked into his chest – and soothed his own eczema.
All profits are reinvested into bee care: ‘My ethos isn’t about how much honey I produce. It’s all about caring for the bees.’
Stephen is in the throes of setting up a local beekeeping social club, and has recently hosted his first beekeeping experience. ‘I’m aiming them at anyone who would like to understand more about bees and bee-keeping. We open up the hives and people get a chance to build their own honey-spinning frames.’
Are all the stings worth it?
‘If I get stung it’s my own fault for rushing or not concentrating. You can’t hurry bees – that’s what I love about them.
‘Plus, the bonus is a sting is the cheapest and best of all Botox!’
Join Stephen for A Bee Experience on 6th July at Rawston Farm, Tarrant Rawston – 2pm, £60 per person (£100 per couple).
Protective equipment will be provided and afternoon tea
is also included.
To book, call 07488 311024 or email stephentoop@sky.com
