Thanks

 

It takes 700 bees a lifetime to make a jar of honey, and it has needed the help of almost as many people to produce this book.

First thanks must go to my wonderful family – Gowing, Wilton, Ward, Greenslade and Lucas.You launched and supported me on this and so many other journeys.

And then sincere thanks to all the people who helped me in my adventures in Kosovo, opening their homes or their hives to me, helping, teaching and befriending me. Chief among them must be Adem and Xhezide Ibrahimi, and Gazi Bërlajolli. Faleminderit për gjithçka.

For help in the process of turning those experiences into a book,first my thanks must go to James Ferguson. But thank you, too, to the members of the Magnetic North writers group in Greenwich and the members of the writers group who meet at Dit e Nat in Pristina; for their detailed constructive criticism – and for the spontaneous applause when I read the chapter on Kosovo’s independence. Enormous thanks, too, to all those others who commented on the manuscript and saved me from myself, including many of those mentioned above or in the text but also David Banks, Rosie Whitehouse, Shiraz Chakera, Sybille Raphael,Tim Albert,Tim Judah and Tracey Byrne.

Thanks, too, to all those who helped me with the recipes – as well as those mentioned in the text or above, thanks to tasters from Network Cornwall (including Althea, Candida, Debbie, Jacquelin, Jenny, Jo, Lyn, Rachel, Ruth, Sharyn, Sue and Suzy) and beyond (Anna, Cassia, Kerri and Martha).

Finally, thanks to Su Jones and Paddy McEntaggart for, amongst other things, making this book look so beautiful.