Our Apiary

We started out with 2 'nucleus' colonies in 2012 sourced from a fellow beekeeper in our neighbouring village Leedstown. Through colony management we have built up the apiary to consist of 5 main colonies at the beginning of each season.

The management of our small apiary is aimed towards keeping the local nature of the bees - we don't buy in foreign queens for the colonies, but strive to facilitate appropriate reproduction from the colonies themselves. An element of selection is carried out by encouraging requeening from our best colonies. The Cornish variety of honey bee tends towards a much blacker body than other varieties - they are arguably better adapted to our local environmental conditions (windy, damp, not blisteringly hot!) but are not necessarily as 'productive' as other, more commercial, varieties.

Our apiary is positioned at the top of our south facing field, possibly a bit windy, but this is Cornwall after all!