Local honeybees were the biggest winners when many thousands of visitors swarmed to this weekend’s Taunton Honey Show.

Local families and keen gardeners found plenty to enjoy in the colourful feature held at Taunton Flower Show on August 1 and 2.

Crowds attended demonstrations of beekeeping while children especially enjoyed spotting the queen bee in a glass observation hive.

Honey Show Secretary Adam Robbins said: “It is great to see the support for the Show not only through the level of competition entries, which was tremendous and equals the best of recent years, but also because of the number of people who wanted to find out more about beekeeping.”

Sales of honey and other hive products flew off the shelves and the revenue will be ploughed into Taunton Beekeepers’ new education centre which opened last month at its Bradford-on-Tone apiary.

Adam added: “Beekeeping is enjoying a tremendous revival thanks to far greater awareness of the threats to honeybees and their crucial importance in pollinating our fruit and vegetables. It was great to welcome people to the Honey Show who wanted to talk to local beekeepers and learn a little bit more.”

Entries for the show included live bees (safely housed behind glass), frames of honeycomb, wax candles, bottles of mead and, of course, lots of pots of honey.

Once again the biggest winner in the competition, which included 44 classes and spanned the best honey, hive products and honey cookery, was Taunton member David Pearce who scooped a record six cups and trophies.