Dear Flow Community UK,
just wondered if there are any other Flow users in the Suffolk / United Kingdom area?
I’ve only had bees for 7 month and haven’t come across anyone else using the Flow systems?
Due to the current pandemic it has been difficult getting out there and joining your
local bee clubs and embracing the local bee community.
So if you are out there and fancy connecting then please get in touch.
Hello and welcome to the Flow forum! 
There are Flow hive users all over the UK, but I think many of them connect through Facebook rather than this international forum. Having said that, both @Paras and @HappyHibee are active here and have Flow hives in the UK. We have lots of people with a similar climate to yours, and beekeeping principles are generally pretty similar all over the world, apart from the timing of nectar flows, swarms etc. We will help you here in any way we can, just ask. 
Hello Dawn,
thank you very much for welcoming me to forum.
I wasn’t quite sure what would be the best route to reach out!
Thank you you for taking the time.
The closest Flow users I can find are in another county so finding them around where I am has proven somewhat difficult. I’m surrounded by local beekeepers but no one uses the Langstroth system so trying
connect with a few locals to improve and share any knowledge.
I will look into your suggestions and take it from there and I will reach out to the forum for additional information.
Many thanks and enjoy the Southern California sun 
Now that I have tagged the 2 UK members above, you should hear from them on this thread pretty soon. 
SoCal winters certainly beat UK winters - I kept bees in Oxfordshire for many years. Rotten climate, but the bees did well, in fact, better than they do in my current climate! 
Welcome to the family BuzzBuzz01.
If you use Facebook like Dawn mentuined FlowHive UK is the group most UK Flow Hive owners use. I tend to use this more as friendlier and the more knowledgeable members dont nit pick your faults or mistakes they support and encourage.
There are a fair few Flow Hive owners in the Facebook group.
7 months so I’m guessing you’ve not harvested yet?
Good morning Happy Hibee,
thank you for welcoming me!
I have not been on Facebook for over 10 years hence me not following the UK Flow Hive on Facebook.
Was hoping there would be alternative platforms to connect and communicate but will look into it again.
Thank you for your advise and I appreciate that in regards an all round knowledgeable and friendlier bee community. As mentioned I’m very new to these platforms and trying to navigate my way through all the information and chats out there.
So I got a swarm with the help of my local beekeeper (who has now moved away) around the middle of May’20 just as we had gone into lockdown. I am a member of the the Suffolk Bee Association and was meant to start my beginners course when covit shout everything down.
As I got my swarm so late in the season I didn’t have a chance to harvest. So when it came to the end of the season I had a very low Varroa count and left all the full capped honey frames for the bee’s to winter on and only added some vitta feed patty at the beginning of December as I got a bit concerned. I checked back on the bees last week and the patty was still there and only partly eaten. I personally feel that properly wasn’t necessary.
All my knowledge so far has come from books and online courses. I’m surrounded by a lot of bee keepers due to my sightly rural location however Covit has really made it difficult to build up a good community around me with the right support and possibly mentoring. To my knowadge no one uses Langstroth systems and everyone uses National Hives systems.
The closest Flow Hive users are in Essex which is Paras but further up the A12 it seems to only me.
So I have 1 x Flow Hive 2 and have just prepped 1 x Flow Hybrid 3 frames for the start of spring as I’m aiming to do a split.
My general concern at the moment is that I feel my Hive is not as weather proof as it should have been and therefor feels a to more damp then it should.
My 2nd concern is that I worried that they haven’t got enough food stores and I would need to feed granulated sugar as we heading into another cold spell in the coming weeks.
If you have any thoughts are welcome …
Don’t worry about the National/Langsroth thing. They’re not different systems, just different frame sizes.
National happens to be used most commonly because the frames are smaller and hive boxes less heavy and more easily managed. In most associations you will probably find people using National, Commercial, Langsroth and even Rose hive frames. The actual beekeeping is the same. The main disadvantage in using an uncommon frame size is, as a single hive owner, that you cant easily ‘borrow’ a frame from a colleague if needed to help out your hive eg if you need fresh eggs.
And remember flowhive is just a different way of extracting your honey.
How has your season gone BuzzBuzz01?
I’ve not been on the forum for a while but keen to know how your doing.
Hello Buzz
I recently acquired a Flow Hive as a birthday present and decided to joint our local club
as start the learning process.
We are keen to meet other Flow users as no one here uses Langstroth mainly Nationals.
I see your post was dated Jan 2021 ,we would be keen to hear about your experiences.
Hope you are not to busy to read this.
MGF
Hello MGF,
welcome to the Flow family 
Thank you for reaching out. Where are you based in Suffolk? It’s good to get in with your local bee club and highly recommend to try and gain as much bee keeping knowledge as possible from wherever you can soak it all up. Do a course either online or with your Bee Club. National Hives will be pretty standard amongst most of the beekeepers you will come across. However there are a few of us dotted around 
Bee keeping is exactly same just the extraction process is very different which is wonderful to experience.
Hope this helps?
buzz
Hi Buzz
Thanks for connecting us it is good to hear from another Flow owner. We seem to be the odd ones out around here.We joined the Ipswich & East Suffolk Beekeeping Association & have attended they weekly demonstrations at their teaching Apiary. My wife & I will attend their whole day Bee Safari at Kirton Church Hall this Sunday.
The hive is built & we would like to purchase a Nuc from a reliable breeder if we can find one.
Any info from you would be much appreciated. We were told to shop from Thorn beekeeping supplies.
We have installed 9 frames with foundation & wonder if we should instal a dummy board.
The hive is in our back garden just north of Ipswich town centre.
Mike & Margaret