A beekeeper in Turkey is providing a unique treatment to help people recover from ailments – breathing in air from the hives.

Huseyin Ceylan comes from a family of beekeepers and studied agriculture before starting his bee farm in Karaburun,bordering the Aegean Sea,30 years ago.

The area is popular thanks to its coasts,but some have begun visiting to seek the traditional ‘apitherapy’,a term derived from the Greek for bees.

Guests tend to stay several days in cabins in lush greenery,inhaling air from beehives for up to three hours a day,which Ceylan says helps with issues from allergies to migraines.

The government does not officially recognise the therapy,though it is practised by many other beekeepers around Turkey as well as in other countries,including Germany and Russia.

Ceylan has lobbied for years for the sector to be accepted,conducting research and presenting findings to officials.

Senay Ilhan and Ulku Ozman are both receiving treatment (Picture: Reuters)

‘We are not against what we call Western medicine. After all,it is also very important,’ he said.

‘I have been doing this for fifteen years,trying to bring this into medicine.’

Ulku Ozman,69,decided to try the therapy method after a friend suggested it when several surgeries and frequent use of medicines weakened her immune system.

In her nearly week-long visit,Ozman and others enter a cabin where ventilators connected to beehives deliver air.

Each session lasts 45 minutes,with participants moving every 15 minutes to breathe from three different beehives,each with a different smell.

Guests pay around 5,000 lira (£95) per day for the treatment plus accommodation and food.

Huseyin Ceylan runs the facility,and has been beekeeping for decades (Picture: Reuters)

Visitor Senay Ilham,68,has breast cancer that metastasised to her spine but is in remission after receiving conventional treatment.

‘This smell seems familiar. It’s like it is (coming) from my childhood,’ she said.

‘(The beehive air) always brings me a breeze from these things. It relaxes me both psychologically and physically.’

While bees in particular aren’t known for their healing powers,their honey is.

In 2019,a man whose infected penis split had it reconstructed with Manuka honey.

Doctors first thought the patient,55,from Roskilde,Denmark,was suffering from balanoposthitis,a condition which causes the foreskin and glans to become inflamed,but they found tumours.

After removing the tumours,medics attempted to repair the penis using skin grafts,but opted for honey dressings instead when the procedure was unsuccessful.

Manuka honey is known to have antiviral,ant-inflammatory and anti-bacterial properties and can be used to treat anti-healing wounds.

It’s made from nectar collected by bees that pollinate manuka trees,found in New Zealand and Australia.

The report said that within two weeks,healthy tissue started to fill the wound on the man’s genitals.