BEEKEEPERS CREATING A BUZZ
HILLTOP HONEY
Back in 2011, 23-year-old Scott Davies was living with his parents, recovering from a back injury and unsure of his next step. It was here, during his daily curative walks around the garden, that he struck upon the idea for Hilltop Honey – a raw, unpasteurised and delicious local product, which in 2015 became the first ever raw honey to be sold in large supermarkets. His mission? To educate consumers about its benefits and support the humble honey bee through an ‘adopt a bee’ scheme and by donating five per cent of all Welsh honey profits to the Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust. (hilltop-honey.com)
BLACK BEE HONEY
It may seem slightly paradoxical to keep bees in a city but, according to Black Bee Honey founders Chris Barnes and Paul Webb, “The huge variety of plants and trees in the capital’s parks and gardens give honey a mind-blowing complexity of flavours.” Named after the native British bee, Black Bee Honey works with beekeepers in London and Exmoor to make area-specific, unprocessed honey, which is not heated or blended – for maximum nutritional benefit. The duo met in an office in 2003 and, after undertaking a beekeeping course together and “catching the bug”, they’re now working tirelessly to tackle the endangerment of both bees and their keepers – did you know the average age of a British beekeeper is 66? (blackbeehoney.co)
THE TRAVELLING BEE CO
Different flowers create very different flavours, so Mark Chambers spends his life shuttling a 60-strong collection of hives up and down the country – setting up apiaries to give his bees access to the widest array of forests and flora throughout the seasons and create wonderfully diverse area-specific honey. On top of the challenges of disease and habitat loss, British beekeepers face the additional obstacle of a very short window for producing honey (British bees can be in winter-mode for up to six months, while in warmer countries they produce honey all year round) – which is why, Mark explains, local honey needs to be a little more expensive. A lover of nature, he knows just how essential bees are: “I recently witnessed Scandinavian thrushes, which had flown thousands of miles to this country, feed on the hawthorn bushes that my bees pollinate. The work of bees underpins our entire ecosystem.” (travellingbee.co.uk)