My mother was stung on the ankle and it was red and itchy for 2 YEARS.

My father was stung really badly about 15 years ago - he stuck a garden fork into the compost heap, and directly into the centre of a bees hive - it was like a scene from the Simpsons, with him shouting "aaa, aaa, get them off, get them off". Ended up getting stung about 15 times in the face - NOT pleasant.

Edit: Bees don't have nests, they have hives. Don't they? D'oh!