Our Honey

The bees will forage and collect nectar and pollen within an area approximately a mile and half from our apiary, in all directions. This forage is what determines the makeup of the honey - and around us the main contributor to the summer 'nectar flow' is bramble and clover. This is why different localities result in very different honey varieties - it all depends on the local flora.

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.