A friend of mine has just sent me an interesting link for a new type of hive. It is based on the Dartington long hive – but is made of plastic.
Seems a good idea for beginner beekeepers or urban beekeepers (see below) – though I have not tried the system and cannot comment on how good it is. My friend has a Dartington hive and says that it will have advantages over her current hive because the new plastic roof will weather better than the old design which is based on plywood.
Interestingly enough, the number of beekeepers in my local area has increased by 100 to about 650 – and I am told that the number of new beekeepers in the county has increased more this year than for any other year since the 1940s! This new design will surely attract more beekeepers in the UK. I hope so!
More at: http://www.omlet.co.uk/products_services/products_services.php?view=Bees
Bee Lore 
Awesome, just awesome, I really like how it helped to increase the number of beekeepers in your area. I am also a beekeeper and love bees. If anyone would like to check out my blog about my bees, the URL is superhive.wordpress.com.
Hi, this seems to be a sort of renewed craze. When I was a boy starting beekeeping nearly forty years ago now, the Glen hive hype was just finishing. I inherited two dozen of them and could not wait to get rid of them. I realised apis mellifera’s love for rapid upward development quickly and the pain of trying to move or shift long awkward hives!