Thank goodness they came to check first. Here’s what happened

The bees don’t like being disturbed and get angry and aggressive. They are also more active and aggressive in warm weather. About half an hour ago I asked Jeremy for some new potatoes, which are in grow bags in the strawberry polytunnel adjacent to the beehives. He suggested I help him lift the bags into a wheelbarrow and as I was wheeling the barrow down the garden I called out, “What about the bees?” He thought we would be safe but as we carried the first bag out of the tunnel I heard the sound of an angry bee near my head and I began to run, hell for leather, up the path towards the house – screaming at the top of my lungs and shouting expletives at the bee. It was near me and then managed to get into my ponytail where I could hear it buzzing. My heart was pounding and as I took a hairbrush out of the dresser drawer, Jeremy appeared and brushed the bee out of my hair. I was calming down and ventured outside to sit in the pergola until my heart rate returned to normal and as I did so

I was met by my neighbour and friend P and the lovely T who had been weeding my neighbour’s front garden. She had heard my blood curdling screams and thought someone was being attacked. She came to our back gate snd called but I was shouting so loudly I didn’t hear. She went back across the road to fetch help and, bless them, they found me recovering not from a murderous burglar or domestic abuse but from a bee attack!

They went away with a jar of honey and a box of apricots and my personal award for good citizenship!