About Our Bees
Why "Brookfield"?
Brookfield is the home where Richard grew up, in West End, Hampshire. It's where our hives sit today, so every jar of Brookfield Honey comes from a place with a lot of family history behind it. It felt only right to name the honey after it.
Where our bees forage
Honeybees will happily travel a long way for a good meal, but most of their foraging happens close to home. Ours collect nectar and pollen from within about three miles of the hives: hedgerows, woodland edges, gardens and the odd patch of wild ground around West End.
A taste of bramble
Recent analysis of our honey shows it comes mainly from bramble, the humble blackberry bush. Bramble flowers from early summer and is a favourite with bees, which is lucky for us, because it makes a light, mild honey with a soft fruity note. If you've ever picked blackberries on a late-summer walk, you've been in our bees' kitchen.
How we look after them
- Bees come first. We only take honey the colony can spare and make sure they have enough stores to see them through the winter.
- Regular checks. We inspect our colonies through the season, looking for signs of disease and keeping the varroa mite under control.
- Gentle handling. Calm beekeeping means calm bees.
- Number of colonies: EXAMPLE, [X] hives.
Every queen has her colour
Beekeepers mark each queen with a tiny dot of colour so they can spot her among thousands of workers. The colour depends on the year: White (years ending 1 or 6), Yellow (2 or 7), Red (3 or 8), Green (4 or 9) and Blue (5 or 0). We use the same colours in the batch code on your lid. See the FAQ.