Cambridgeshire is flat, open and heavily farmed, and its honey reflects that. The Cambridgeshire Honey Company at Warboys produces single-origin honey from an apiary overlooking the 'big horizon' landscape of the Fens. When Isle of Ely Honey at Wentworth had a September 2022 sample DNA-tested through the National Honey Monitoring Scheme, the plants found were white mustard, bristly oxtongue, bramble, forget-me-not, field bindweed and ivy – field margins, hedgerows and the late ivy flow. In Huntingdonshire, Pete's Local Honey at Spaldwick keeps its hives on local farms within five miles of home and extracts in May and September.
The Cambridgeshire Beekeepers' Association holds its annual honey show in a marquee on the Fenland Country Fair ground at Stow-cum-Quy.
Most honey here is bought direct or online. In Cambridge, Bee & Bird supplies delis and food producers from hives on city rooftops and rural field boundaries; around Ely, All About the Buzz delivers free within ten miles of the CB6 postcode, and Harts Honey at Wilburton keeps all its bees within the village.
Oilseed rape dominates April across the Fens, followed by field beans in June and borage on some rotations in July. Around Wisbech, the old orchard country still carries apple, pear and plum blossom in spring, and colonies sited there get a fruit-blossom crop before the rape takes over. The Ouse and Cam valleys hold willow, hawthorn and a long bramble season along the droves and drains. Cambridge is the outlier: college gardens, the Backs, mature street lime and the Botanic Garden give city colonies a continuous and unusually diverse season, and honey from central Cambridge tastes nothing like honey from ten miles out in the Fen.
Fenland honey is pale, mild and sets firm; Cambridge city honey is darker, more varied and stays liquid longer.
Flowering times are typical and can shift by two to three weeks with the weather, season and altitude.
Cambridge, Peterborough, Ely, Wisbech, Huntingdon, St Neots, St Ives, March
Noticeably. City colonies work college gardens, street lime and the Botanic Garden across a long, varied season, producing a darker and more complex honey. Fen colonies work a small number of huge crops — mainly rape and beans — giving a pale honey that sets hard. Both are local; they just taste different.
Lime flowers from late June into July, and beekeepers usually take that crop off in late July. It has a distinctive fresh, slightly minty character. Ask city producers in August rather than waiting for the end of the season, as it is often sold separately from the main summer honey.
Use the listing details to choose how to buy, then contact the producer before travelling.
The directory does not track live stock or harvest dates. Availability, collection, delivery, prices and seasonal varieties can change, so ask the producer to confirm what is currently available.
Browse the complete UK honey directory
