Claire Day's Bristol allotment has plum, pear and apple trees, borage, quinces, lavender – and two bee hives.

Products from those hives at Clay Bottom, near Claire's home in Greenbank, can be found in shops around Bristol.

For beekeeping is not just a hobby for 31-year-old Claire, a former fitness instructor and qualified aromatherapist.

It has enabled her to start her own small business called Bella Bees, making balms made from wax produced in her hives.

"As a kid I used to make lots of lotions and potions, I've always had a meddling side!" laughs Claire as she plays with her three-month-old daughter Maya.

"I've always been very interested in perfumes and smells, but so many perfumes have such fake smells and are full of chemicals.

"I began to think how ridiculous it is that we've come to have so many different products, when in the past people just used a few simple, natural products.

"So I decided to make my own products, with the simple philosophy that if nature doesn't make it then I don't put it in.

"As part of that I started keeping bees because I wanted to source the raw materials for my products locally."

The Bella Bees range consists of a Sweet Almond Balm and a Grapeseed Balm, with prices starting at £5.95 for 30ml. There is also a Bella Bees Natural Perfume range, featuring scents such as tangerine and sandalwood.

Claire started keeping bees in 2007, and mainly uses wax from her own two hives, and if she needs more wax she gets it from other apiaries within the Bristol area.

"The balms have many healing properties, that actually feed the skin," she says.

"I've been a massage and holistic therapist for over 10 years, and I've seen products made with beeswax make a real difference to people with problem skin such as psoriasis and eczema.

"Beeswax also has very good anti-bacterial properties, and is easier to work with than oils.

"I do a lot of baby massage, and balms made with beeswax are particularly good as mums don't want to put lots of chemicals on their babies' skin.

"My partner Alex is a gardener, and I know from his experiences that the balms are great for gardeners."

Claire usually makes her Bella Bees products about twice a year, clearing the entire kitchen so she can set about the job of heating up the beeswax and other ingredients in a huge electrical pan with a thermostat.

Afterwards, she sticks all the labels on the jars by hand. "I've probably stuck over 3,000. I suppose it's one way to spend an evening," she says.

Why did she call her range of products Bella Bees? "It means beautiful bees, which seemed the perfect name," she says.

"About every 10 days I make sure how they are doing, and check whether they are going to swarm. They're quite hypnotic and I love watching them.

"Bees are very placid, and they won't sting you unless they feel threatened. For them stinging is their last defence, and it will kill them, unlike a wasp."

In common with an increasing number of beekeepers, Claire is concerned about the health of the populations in her hives.

"My bees haven't been very well lately, but at least they have survived," she says.

"In the first year I had a massive crop of honey. I was looking after more hives then as I was also helping a friend, but even so the 60lb or so of honey that I got then is proportionately far more than I got last year, when I got about 10lbs if I was lucky.

"It seems that the bees are devouring their honey and are leaving very little, but I think it's good that they're getting their honey back."

Is she concerned about the fact that in recent years many bees have become ill and are dying?

Claire replies: "I think it's a very serious problem, not just for bees but also for people as bees pollinate much of our food.

"I think it's ridiculous that more isn't being done to find a solution, as we depend on bees so much."

What could be causing so many bees to die?

Claire replies: "No one can say for certain as a lot more research needs to be done. It has been said that it could be the result of climate change, and other possibilities are pollutants and mobile phone signals. One way or another, it looks like it comes down to modern life.

"It seems that somehow the bees are not getting the nutrients they need so their defence mechanisms are low, and they become ill and die."

Bella Bees products can be bought online through the Bella Bees website, and are also stocked in stores in Bristol including the Better Food Company, the Green Store in St Nicholas Market, and Radford Mill Farm Shop.

"I'm not a natural saleswomen. I'm used to dealing with people one-to-one in massage," says Claire.

"I hated having to go around saying 'These are my products, would you like to buy them?'

"That's why they're only on sale in shops in Bristol – I couldn't face having to travel around selling my products all over the place!"