A Bristol bakery owner was trapped in her shop for an hour when a swarm of bees suddenly appeared outside it.
Tracy Phillpott has described the moment that a 'black' cloud of honey bees shocked her at her Cottage Bakery store in Chipping Sodbury on Monday. The 50-year-old told Bristol Live that she was about to close the bakery for the day when the bees suddenly swarmed outside the front door like "a bit of an apocalypse".
"It was black with bees and then they started climbing on everything. It wasn't until it calmed down that we could open the door and go outside," she said.
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Tracy says that she and her colleague Ellie first noticed the bees at around 1.45pm, and it very quickly became a swarm. The pair were trapped inside the bakery for an hour before they managed to get outside, when they noticed that a nest of bees had attached itself to the underside of one of the tables which the bakery's customers usually use on the pavement.
Tracy said that while it was scary at first, she also saw the beauty in the insects. "It was a bit unnerving. It made your skin crawl a bit.
"But on the other hand they are honey bees so they won't hurt you. It was beautiful really to see."
Once they made their way outside they had to warn people to keep away from the shop, and they managed to call a bee keeper to collect the bugs by 4pm.
And Tracy said that many of the people who walked past admired the sight. "Most people thought it was quite beautiful," she said.
