A group of Pembroke Ladies Probus Club members and their guests recently enjoyed a sun-baked outing to New Quay Honey Farm.

After coffee and a selection of honey-rich cakes, owner Gerald Cooper introduced us to the exhibition which demonstrates how fascinating and extraordinary the honey bee colony is and how important the insect world is to the survival and well-being of our planet.

It shows five live colonies of honeybees together with very well-presented display boards, also a live leaf-cutting ant colony.

Gerald took an empty beehive apart for us to see exactly how it works and explained the social hierarchy of the colony under the queen bee who is capable of laying 1,500 eggs per day.

The social organisation puts thousands of worker bees in the air when plants flower to store nectar in large quantities which enables them to survive the winter.

In collecting the nectar, bees transfer pollen from one plant to another, ensuring the fertilisation of flowers and formation of fruits.

The final live colony opens out at the press of a button on the side of the case to show what a colony looks like living in the same frames that are in a beehive.

A very interesting video then drew all the information together and signalled time to taste the mead, a fermentation of honey and water, also made on the farm, and visit the well-stocked shop.

We then moved on to Aberaeron where members dispersed in small groups to take a late and leisurely lunch at a variety of restaurants with outdoor tables before returning to Pembroke.

Members expressed their appreciation to Dawn Homfray for her efficient organisation of such an enjoyable outing.

The next meeting will return to the Cleddau Bridge Hotel on Wednesday, August 21 when Peter Hamilton will give an illustrated presentation on recent developments at the National Botanic Garden of Wales.