From Hive to Jar

How does honey get from a busy hive into your cupboard? Here's our process, step by step.

1. The bees do the hard work

Worker bees collect nectar, mostly from bramble blossom around West End. Back at the hive, they fan it with their wings to drive off water until it thickens into honey. Then they seal each cell with a wax cap.

2. Choosing the right time

We only take frames where the honey is capped and ripe, and we always leave the bees plenty for themselves. We check the water content with a refractometer, so we know the honey is ready and will keep well. Our main harvest is usually in late August.

3. Uncapping

Extraction happens in our own kitchen at home. Once the frames are inside, we gently slice the wax cappings off each one.

4. Extracting

The frames go into our hand-cranked extractor. Turning the handle spins them round, and the honey is flung out of the comb. It's slow, steady work, and we enjoy every turn. The comb stays intact and goes back to the bees to refill.

5. Filtering

We filter the honey twice, first through a coarse sieve and then a fine one, to catch bits of wax. It's still light filtering, just enough to leave clear, clean honey.

6. Settling

The honey then rests in settling tanks before jarring, so tiny air bubbles and any last specks rise to the top and can be skimmed off.

7. Jarring and labelling

We fill clean, sterilised glass jars, fit new lids, and label each one with its batch code and best before date. Each batch gets its own page, so you can always trace your jar back to the harvest it came from.

Local Honey, Naturally Sourced and Lightly Filtered.