Les is the owner and beekeeper of The Honey Store. As a small family business which began in Ponteland in Northumberland, he and his bees moved to Morpeth in 2018. Les has always had a keen interest in beekeeping which started from a young age. Les is also a carpenter!
Prior to focusing on beekeeping and honey production, Les produced beautiful WBC garden beehives – many of which are situated in gardens all over the UK, including the National History Museum gardens in London!
Did you know?
95% of Honey consumed in the UK is imported from abroad!
Much of the “Commodity Supermarket Honey” in the UK comes in from millions of different bee hives in large steel drums transported via container ships (mainly from non EU sources).
Large processors will mix, blend, “cut”, dilute, filter and pasteurise (cook at high temperatures) massive batches of the blended, now a “syrup product”. This process will keep the syrup “runny” but most of the flower pollen and all of the natural enzymes and other micronutrients will be lost.
What is different about our honey?
To retain natural goodness and quality, we do not “heat treat” or pasteurise our honey to prevent granulation (setting). All Honey Store produce is “raw” cold extracted, double sieved and straight from the comb. Nothing added and nothing taken away, our honey is just how our bees like it. Tastes good too!
All of our honey is 100% pure and raw. With the exception of our nut and chunk range, the produce you see on display is “real British Honey” foraged from wildflowers, gardens, hedgerows and the remote heather moorlands of the United Kingdom.
English Soft Set Honey
English Soft Set is available either “runny” or “set” and it is our most popular type of honey!
When runny, please try pouring it on your breakfast cereal with yogurt! When set, spread it thick on hot toast! Even better on a scrumptious hot crumpet, it will melt like butter and fill in all of the holes!
Loaded with pollen, our English Soft Set is regarded as a “Garden Honey” produced from a diverse variation of nectar collected during late spring and also the warm summer months of the year. Many of our customers use this honey for the treating of seasonal allergies. The main harvest is during early September. Slow granulation when jarred but “Sets Soft” to a lovely “buttery consistency”.
To retain the natural enzymes, pollen and other micronutrients, we do not “heat treat” our honey to prevent granulation. All HONEY STORE produce is “raw” cold extracted, double strained and straight from the comb.
The Honey Store’s Most Popular Honey Products
Spring Blossom Honey
The first honey harvest of the year!
This harvest takes place during the month of June. A mild honey collected from early spring blossom’s including Wildflower, Hawthorne, Apple, Plum, Cherry and Rape.
It sets quickly following jarring and can be gently warmed back to runny if necessary.
English Soft Set Honey
Our most popular honey! Regarded as a “garden” or “summer” honey. This honey is from a diverse variation of nectar collected during late spring and also the warm summer months of the year. (Many different types of garden flowers). The main harvest is during early September. Slow granulation when jarred but “Sets Soft” to a lovely “buttery consistency”. Pour it onto your favourite breakfast cereal, or when set, try spreading it on a scrummy hot crumpet! It will melt and fill in all of the holes!
English Heather Honey
UK Beekeepers place their “out hives” on remote heather moor land so their bees can collect heather nectar during late July and August.
The hives are returned to the main apiaries early September time. Pure Heather Honey; a strongly flavoured dark honey with a peaty aroma and a caramel texture for the “honey connoisseur”! (A favourite on a winter porridge breakfast)!
Organic Honey?
It is difficult for The Honey Store to claim their honey is Organic as bees will forage a 3 mile radius from their hives. Mainly they will visit gardens but they will also visit farmland in local areas. We can’t tell bees where to go!
However, we can guarantee that our honey is totally pure, raw and unprocessed. Tastes good too!
Some Bee Facts!
- Bees will forage a 3 mile radius of their hives.
- During mid-summer, an average colony size will consist of 40 to 50,000 bees.
- In the winter time honey bees will reduce colony size to 5000 / 6000 bees. They will huddle together forming what is known as the winter cluster. Their main focus is maintaining a comfortable interior hive temperature and the protection of their mother queen. They are waiting for the first spring blossom to appear.
- A honey bee colony can produce a honey surplus of over 20kg (60, 340g Jars).
- A single worker bee produces only 1/12th of a teaspoon of honey in its lifetime.
- The queen can live for many years. In mid-summer a worker bee lives for only 3 weeks. A baby bee born in late Autumn will live in the warm hive all through the winter awaiting spring time.
- Honey Bees do not hibernate. In the winter they may take short flights if it is dry and when it is above 8oC
- A colony is mainly girls! Only 200 to 300 drones (boys) are part of the colony during the summer. Their purpose is to mate with new queens, mostly they laze about the hive eating honey but in late summer, they are all thrown out of the hive by the girls! This is where the saying “The Lazy Drone” comes from!
With only so much honey, The Honey Store supplies “selected” Farm Shops and specialist Deli Style Stores.
They also attend farmers markets, country shows and various local food events.
