Word: honeying
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Come spring, when Benbow's hives return to the roof after a yearlong renovation at Fortnum's, hundreds of thousands of his honeybees will be buzzing over to Buckingham Palace, specifically its 42-acre (17 hectare) private garden, the source of pollen and nectar for their very fine honey...
...aficionado, city honey is purer, according to Benbow, because in the country you have oilseed rape, genetically modified crops, pesticides and fertilizers, whereas traffic pollution doesn't seem to affect bees. City bees are more productive: ample food plus warmer temperatures mean they yield up to three times as much honey as their country cousins, according to the British Beekeepers Association. "London's a delight for a bee, because there are so many flowering plants and trees," says Benbow, who describes the taste of the honey he collects from 17 other hives he has hidden on London rooftops as similar...
Cities need bees for pollination as well as honey, but honeybees now particularly need city folk for their window boxes and gardens. In the country, their numbers are in steep decline, in part because of intensive farming and the loss of hedgerows. But what of their sting? "The worst-tempered bees I know are those kept on the heather in Wales," says Benbow. "My London honeybees are a gentler breed." That said, Benbow keeps his hives high, so that the bees head out from them way above people's heads before dropping down to forage...
...inner-city nunnery and, famously, atop both the Opéra Bastille and the Palais Garnier, the latter still tended by Jean Paucton, 73. Paucton's bees forage in the Tuileries Gardens, the chestnut trees of the Champs-Élysées and the linden trees of the Palais Royal. The honey they produce sells at a premium price at Fauchon...
...rooftop gardens. David Graves, 57, who has hives on the Upper West Side, in Harlem and on a 12-story hotel in the East Village, says he's never been bothered by the city, "although if a neighbor didn't like bees, I'd give them a jar of honey and move to another roof...