STROUD is buzzing with a host of bee themed events, including an exciting trail, brightly coloured window displays and children's activities.

The Bee Stroud initiative has been organised by the Stroud & District Chamber of Trade & Commerce and is aimed at encouraging people to visit their local businesses and help the high streets of the Stroud District recover post-lockdown.

Visitors can take part in a Bee Stroud Trail; there are Bee Bargains; there's a Bee Stroud Bee Local Card, plus there are special activities for children, including colouring competitions, mazes and craft activities.

Vibrant shop window designs on a bee theme have been created by traders in Stroud, Nailsworth, Stonehouse and Dursley, all of which can be enjoyed until Saturday, July 10.

For those taking part on the Bee Stroud Trail, the challenge is to find all the bees within the town to spell out a word or phrase and, on their way, they will find informative facts about bees and their habitat.

There are 77 unique bee facts in total, with 51 businesses participating in Stroud, 13 in Nailsworth, seven in Stonehouse and six in Dursley.

To reward the seekers there will be a prize draw, with prizes supplied by local company Apples to Pears Ltd of Brimscombe Port.

Tony Davey, chair of the chamber, said: “It’s great to be supported by Apples to Pears Ltd in this important activity of the Bee Stroud events.

"A core value of Bee Stroud is to entertain and educate, and Apples to Pears is a perfect fit with their entertaining and educational gifts.

"Bees play an essential role within our ecosystem and the Bee Stroud events help to promote bee awareness and how we can best support bees.

"Our Bee Trail will display a different bee fact at every location on the map.

"Being able to offer a prize to a lucky participant is an added incentive to take part and learn at the same time. We are grateful to Apples to Pears Ltd for helping us make this happen.”

Sarah Lane, sales director of Apples to Pears, said: “We are absolutely delighted to be supporting our hometown with the very first Bee Stroud event and are happy to offer some bee-autiful prizes for the winning participants.

"This is a fantastic initiative which entirely reflects our core values as a company, and as a local business, we would encourage everyone to join in."

See the VisitStroud.uk website for further details.