From the rooftop of Fortnum & Mason in Piccadilly and the grounds of Buckingham Palace to the Square Mile's skyscrapers, banks and law courts, out to the city farms, back yards and council flat balconies of south London, allotments to the west, a honey co-op in the east end, and wildlife parks and gardens in the north, the landscape of the capital is now dotted with bee hives.

This book will not only paint a vivid portrait of these intimate - sometimes secret - locations, it will also introduce you to the beekeepers and their bees through the changing seasons. By following the authors throughout a year, it is part travelogue, part nature guide and part how-to manual for urban dwellers seeking to combine city life with keeping bees.

Interviews with a diverse range of urban apiarists, describing where and how they keep their hives, will take the reader on a journey of discovery in which they will meet city workers tending to their bees in their lunch hour, entrepreneurs selling London honey to shops and restaurants, youth workers using beekeeping as a vehicle to help troubled teenagers, and environmentalists trying to green the city by keeping nature's most efficient pollinator.

Identifying with this new breed of beekeepers and learning how to keep bees in small, enclosed spaces, cheek by jowl with people, readers will be inspired and encouraged to take up this increasingly popular pastime.

A collection of compelling tales from the front line of urban beekeeping, from the authors of "A World Without Bees" and "Keeping Bees & Making Honey". Membership of British Beekeepers' Association has increased 40% over the past 5 years, and now has 17,000 members.

Beekeeping - once seen as an old-fashioned country pursuit - is increasingly attracting young metropolitan professionals, and new hives are springing up all over our cities. This title suggests creative ways you can help bees in your own back garden without keeping a hive. It provides practical information for the novice urban beekeeper.