Every one of our honeys is from a small scale British beekeeper who has simply spun their honey from the hive and run it through a sieve for us. We jar and label it - and bring it to you to enjoy. Nothing more complicated than that!
On each jar we write the beekeeper's name, where they kept their bees, when the honey was taken off, and how many jars of that honey the bees produced. Totally pure, raw and trustworthy.
Bees have no stop-button, so if there's nectar, they'll be making honey! It means that many of the UK's small scale beekeepers have more honey than they can sell themselves - that's where Hive & Keeper comes in.
We love showing off our beekeepers and their incredible honeys, the like of which you will never have tasted before!
We work with British local beekeeper who keeps their bees in back gardens, allotments, woodlands and by hedgerows across the UK. We're very proud of them so here's their story and the people behind our honeys.
John keeps his bees on the edge of fields at Kings Sombourne and these bees in their blue hives at the bottom of his garden in Lopcombe rural Hampshire.
John used to combine beekeeping with shepherding; raising lambs over winter, and then beekeeping in the spring. He has an engineering mind and helped design farm machinery that’s still in use today.
Sue has been keeping bees in London for more than 10 years. She keeps them in back gardens in South West London and near to all the parks so the bees have a huge range of flowers to feast on.
A gardener by trade, she took up beekeeping as a hobby following in her father’s footsteps with the smell of the wax and beehives bringing back happy childhood memories.
Eduard keeps bees at two Pick Your Own farms in Berkshire and Buckinghamshire and others by hedgerows and an avenue of lime trees in Holyport, Berkshire.
Eduard's originally from Moldovia and has been beekeeping in the UK for nearly 10 years. He's also a carpenter and builds all his own hives and equipment, while his wife helps him with running the business and looking after their young children.
Howard moved from Surrey to Blaisdon to give his bees more space as they out-grew his back garden! Here in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, his bees have laods of space and the original Blasidon Plum orchard just over the hedge.
The first Blaisdon plum tree was apparently discovered in a hedge in Blasidon village in 1892. They're pretty rare now so plant one if you can!
John and Gayle keep their bees in the protection of the trees overlooking their wild flower meadows and lake at Rotherfield, Sussex.
John turned his farmland into fishing lakes back in the early 80’s and created a beautiful landscape. Gayle’s passion has been creating the wildflower meadows to give a wild habitat for all our pollinators.
Matthew keeps his bees around the fields on, and surrounding, his family's farm at Tamworth, just on the border of Warwickshire and Staffordshire.
Matthew started beekeeping at University and is now full-time into all things bees and honey - which includes jarring, labelling and posting all my honeys and orders for me. I don't know where I'd be without him!
Thomas keeps around his Granddad's home in Walton, Yorkshire.
He started beekeeping during lockdown when he was living with his Grandad. He now works as an engineer but has kept his bobby going - and growing! He gives his bees their own patch as he likes the idea of each hive having it's own special, secluded spot.
Stephen keeps his bees dotted around his garden with woods, hedgerows and other village gardens all within striking distance.
He started beekeeping back in 2015 as a hobby, combining it with being a 'large animal' vet in Pickering, North Yorkshire. Just as you'd imagine, there seemed to be a lot of pet cats and dogs in residence when I visited!
Mike started beekeeping over 25 years ago when he heard someone on a Radio 4 gardening programme say ‘beekeeping is a lovely hobby as you only do it in the good weather’. He was hooked and never looked back!
I really enjoyed visiting him and his wife and hearing his beekeeping stories. Mike has a wonderful turn of phrase and wisdom: he told me ‘whatever fills your sails is good for you’ – I couldn’t agree more.
Kaz trained as an engineer but ended up working abroad with bees, then back home too - but for someone else.
She is now her own boss and has bees in the most lovely spots around. She works with the landowners to help them make the woods and fields where her hives are as bee-friendly as possible. I love my visits and chats!
I love meeting the beekeepers behind each of our honeys and really enjoy their company and learning more about what they do. Knowing I'm buying pure honey with incredible flavours which I know you'll love and can trust puts a spring in my step!.
