Award Winning Heather Honey from the Peak District here in Derbyshire
Heather honey is my favourite of all and to produce this special delicious tasting honey, I take my hives to the moorlands of Derbyshire at the end of July to our apiary in the heart of the Peak District. The Ling Heather (Calluna vulgaris) is just coming into flower and my hives share the changing colours of the moors with the sheep and grouse as they turn from a dark green into a spectacular purple.
The pictures below, tells you a story of what goes on, from the work done by us, to the finished product, a jar of award winning Heather Honey.
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- Hives in position on the stands with our light weight roofs held down with rocks
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- Mid September and a cool and misty day, no bees flying, heather finished, travel screens and straps replaced and finally entrance plugged for their return
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- A small amount of bell heather (Erica Cinerea) in flower near by being dwarfed by the Ling Heather
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- That’s more like it, a nicely filled frame of heather honey “glowing” in the low sun at the end of August
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- All of the heather honey now gathered to rush back and get the first crop bottled for my eager customers. Hives now have empty supers for extra bee space.
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- First inspection two weeks later, and the frames are slowly filling with heather honey
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- Catherine and Chris came along to help with the inspections and collect the honey supers
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- The Ling heather now fully out in early August, producing a gel like honey and brown pollen
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- Heather press lined with the scrim cloth and filled with the heather honey ready to press out
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- The finished product, the jar reveals the colours produced by the moorlands of Derbyshire. This is the best of our honeys produced by the work of the bees and assisted by our selves
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- And finally. It has been worth the time and trouble, our Heather honey won first prize at the Derbyshire Beekeepers Association honey show and we won the Fred Fountain Cup in 2006 and again in 2007
