There are three apiaries in our portfolio all producing pure honey local to Caterham. In is amazing how in some years the character of the honey can be quite different, even though there are only a few miles between them.
Our home apiary is in suburban Caterham.
There is plenty of space for the full colonies of bees here, and it also provides space for the nursery, where small colonies are set up and nurtured until they are mature enough to become productive. If we have collected a swarm from your garden, this is where it will end up initially.
The bees have diverse forage in the gardens, park, and wild areas. If it’s hot at the end of June, they will work the lime trees and produce a characteristic honey with a slight green tinge and a minty/menthol hint in the taste. Otherwise the honey will be a complete mix, with bramble predominating. In a really hot year, the honey takes on a darker tint, and a more complex taste as honeydew is evident.
Our North Down apiary is close to the Pilgrims’ Way in Caterham.
Here the bees benefit from short distances to the chalk downland managed by the Downlands Trust. So the forage is primarily wild flowers, starting with dandelions. The wild primroses and cowslips look amazing, but the latter are just teasing the honey bees because their tongues are too short to get to the nectar! In summer there’s lots of clover, and of course the brambles.
In 2024 we put bees into Godstone Vineyards for the first time. It is a beautiful place in which the bees seem especially calm and industrious.
Here the bees have the newly created wildflower meadow, in which phacelia was the star in 2024. There are many acres of farmland for the bees to explore, and beyond that plenty of woodland areas.
Throughout 2025, Godstone Vineyards will be open once a month so you can have a look too.
Time will tell how this honey turns out.