June, clover
An old hay meadow, gone white.
The hives stand at the bottom of the meadow, and in June it turns white with clover. Foragers fly low and fast, a few hundred yards at most, and are home inside twenty minutes.
Cotswolds apiary Nether Ashcombe
Honey, the slow way.
Raw honey, beeswax candles and bee-keeping days from 38 hives at the edge of the Cotswolds. Nothing is heated, blended or hurried.
Scroll to follow the bees
01 The meadow
The meadow
Three miles of flowers
The scouts go out.
Each morning a few scouts fly out and find whatever is in flower: hawthorn, then clover, lime in July, heather on the hill in August. A forager carries about half her own weight in nectar.
Back by dusk
Handed over at the door.
At the entrance the foragers pass their nectar to the house bees. One bee makes about a twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in her whole life, which is why we never take the last frame.
Foragers out320
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02 The waggle dance
The waggle dance
Through the window
A hive with the front off.
This is a working brood box with the front taken away, so you can see in without a veil. Tens of thousands of bees, one frame in view, and a great deal going on.
A dance with directions
Straight run, then loop.
A forager that has found good flowers dances on the comb. The angle of the straight run shows the direction, as an angle to the sun. The length of the waggle shows the distance, roughly a second per kilometre.
The others take notice
No map required.
Followers touch her with their antennae, taste the nectar she brought and set off for the patch. Within the hour the whole meadow is being worked, and the dancer is already back out.
Waggle run0.0sabout 0 km
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03 Your turn
Pick the flower.
Change the honey.
Four flowers, four honeys. Choose one and the meadow, the flight of the bees, the colour in the jar and the label all follow.
Nectar source
- Honey
- Pale gold
- Flight
- Low and busy
- Taste
- Mild, floral, soft vanilla
Foragers skim the hay meadow in a hurry, short trips, lots of them. The honey is the lightest we make and sets creamy.
Drag the scene to look around
04 The comb fills
The comb fills
Nectar in
Thin as weak tea.
Bees pass nectar mouth to mouth, then place a droplet in a cell. At this point it is mostly water, and it would ferment if left alone.
Fanning
A thousand tiny fans.
Bees line up on the frame and beat their wings to drive off the water. The cells fill, shimmer and slowly thicken. This takes days, not hours, and we cannot hurry it.
Capped
Sealed in wax.
When the honey is ripe each cell gets a thin white wax cap. Ripe honey keeps for years, so we only ever take capped frames, and we leave the rest for the bees.
Water content70%
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05 The extractor
The extractor
Uncapped by hand
A warm knife, one pass.
We slice the wax caps from each frame with a warm knife. The cappings drop into a tray and are melted down for the candles, so nothing goes to waste.
Spin
Four frames, one drum.
The frames go into a stainless drum and spin. The honey is flung out onto the wall and runs down, while the comb stays whole, so the bees can fill it again next week.
Tap and rest
Sieved, never heated.
Honey runs from the tap through a coarse sieve into a pail, and sits for two days so the bubbles can rise. We never heat it above hive temperature, which is what keeps it raw.
Drum speed0rpm
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06 The jar
The jar
Poured, not pumped
Filled by hand.
Every jar is filled with a wooden dipper, slowly enough to keep it free of bubbles. 340 grams, give or take a drizzle, and then a good wipe round the rim.
Lid on
Twist, click, done.
Lids are recycled steel and the jars are British glass. Bring your empties back to the shop and we will wash them, refill them and take 30p off.
Named and numbered
Look at the label.
Each label carries the flower, the month and the batch, written in by whoever filled the jar. Pick one up and you can tell where the bees were that week.
In the jar0g
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07 The small print
Small apiary, no shortcuts.
- Hives
- 0
- across six sites within four miles of the farm
- Water in the honey
- 0% or less
- every batch is tested with a refractometer
- First colony
- 0
- one swarm in a cardboard box, still going strong
- Jars in a good year
- 0
- which is why the clover sells out by October
08 The shop
Honey, candles and a day with the bees.
Everything comes from our own hives and our own wax. Prices are for the farm shop; nothing is for sale on this concept page.
Raw honey, 340 g
- £8.50
Clover
Pale gold, mild and floral. Sets creamy. June.
- £12.50
Heather
Deep russet, smoky, bitter-sweet. Set like jelly. August.
- £7.95
Wildflower
Rich amber, fruity and layered. Every batch differs. July.
- £9.50
Lime blossom
Green-tinged, fresh and a little minty. Ten days only.
Beeswax and gifts
- £14.00
Pillar candle
Pure beeswax, 12 cm, burns for around 40 hours.
- £9.50
Pair of tapers
Hand-dipped, 25 cm, with a faint honey scent.
- £7.50
Tea lights, box of 12
In recycled tins. Good for a dark January.
- £14.00
Taster box
Four 50 g jars, one of each flower, in a wooden crate.
Days with the bees
- £85
Taster morning
Three hours at the hives with veil, gloves and a jar to take home.
- £165
Beginner's day
A full day: inspection, extraction in season, lunch, and a starter kit list.
- £180
Adopt a hive
A year of visits, a named hive, and four jars of whatever it makes.
09 Visit
Book a bee day.
Small groups of six at most. We provide the veils, the gloves and the tea. Wear long trousers and closed shoes, and leave the perfume at home.
Thank you. We will check the diary and write back within a day. Do bring a hat, the bees like to land on dark ones.