Local Honey in Lincolnshire
Find honey in Lincolnshire on the map
Lincolnshire's beekeepers have been organised for more than 160 years: the Lincolnshire Beekeepers Association was one of the first associations to form the British Beekeepers Association in 1874. It now has ten districts across the county and holds its annual honey show at the Lincolnshire Show.
Much of the honey reflects the county's farmland and the Lincolnshire Wolds. Stax Of Wax, near Louth, produces a soft-set honey from spring oilseed rape and a golden runny honey from later wildflowers, field beans and hedgerow plants. Beekeepers of the Lincolnshire Wolds, a collaboration of local beekeepers, has an apiary at Hallington outside Louth, and Gill-Eve Honey Bees also keeps bees in the Wolds. Further south, Bees & Co. at Langtoft describes itself as the world's first CarbonNeutral honey farm.
Stax Of Wax honey is stocked by independent and farm shops around Louth, Market Rasen, Horncastle, Mablethorpe and Sutton-on-Sea; Gill-Eve sells through several local stockists; and Bees n Honey at North Scarle and Lincolnshire Honey at Sleaford sell through their own online shops.
Explore Lincolnshire by town
- Local honey in Colsterworth
- Local honey in Grainthorpe
- Local honey in Ingoldsby
- Local honey in Langtoft
- Local honey in Louth
- Local honey in North Scarle
- Local honey in Sleaford
- Local honey in WADDINGTON
Beekeeping landscape and local forage
Oilseed rape in April is the defining crop, sown at a scale that can fill supers in a fortnight. Field beans follow in June and borage appears on some rotations in July. The Lincolnshire Wolds break up the arable belt with chalk grassland, hedgerows and mixed farming, and colonies sited there get a more varied and better-balanced season. Along the coast between Gibraltar Point and the Humber, saltmarsh and dune flora — sea lavender, thrift, restharrow — offer something quite different. Lincoln, Stamford and Grantham all have mature lime and parkland, and the county's many old churchyards and verges are increasingly managed for wildflowers.
What Lincolnshire honey can taste like
Predominantly pale and firm-setting from rape. Wolds apiaries produce a more varied summer honey; coastal ones a rarer, more savoury crop.
Seasonal forage calendar
| Month | Typical forage and colony activity |
|---|---|
| January | Nothing. Exposed and cold across the Fen and coast. |
| February | Hazel and snowdrop. Willow along the drains and becks. |
| March | Blackthorn in the Wolds hedgerows. |
| April | Oilseed rape — the county's biggest flow by a distance. Dandelion. |
| May | Rape finishes and must be extracted quickly. Hawthorn, sycamore, horse chestnut. |
| June | Field beans. Clover on the Wolds. A pronounced gap in the pure arable areas. |
| July | Borage on some rotations. Lime in Lincoln and Stamford. Bramble. Sea lavender on the coast. |
| August | Late bramble, willowherb, coastal flora. |
| September | Ivy in quantity. |
| October | Ivy finishing. Winter preparation. |
| November | Negligible. |
| December | No forage. |
Flowering times are typical and can shift by two to three weeks with the weather, season and altitude.
Places to find local honey in Lincolnshire
Lincoln, Grantham, Boston, Grimsby, Scunthorpe, Stamford, Louth, Spalding
Frequently asked questions
Why does Lincolnshire honey set solid in the jar?
Oilseed rape. It is grown across the county on an enormous scale and its honey granulates faster than almost any other — often within two weeks. Local beekeepers usually sell it soft-set. If you want runny honey from Lincolnshire, ask for a later summer crop rather than the spring one.
Is honey from the Lincolnshire Wolds different?
Generally yes. The Wolds have hedgerows, chalk grassland and mixed farming rather than unbroken arable, so colonies there work a wider range of forage across a longer season. The honey is more varied in colour and flavour than the pale rape-dominated crop from the Fen.
Buying local honey in Lincolnshire
Use the listing details to choose how to buy, then contact the seller before travelling.
- 10 active directory listings currently appear for Lincolnshire.
- 7 listings are marked as raw honey.
- Opening information is supplied on 3 listings.
- 6 listings have a verified webshop link.
- 7 listings also note other beekeeping products.
The directory does not track live stock or harvest dates. Availability, collection, delivery, prices and seasonal varieties can change, so ask the seller to confirm what is currently available.
Honey producers and beekeepers
Beekeepers of the Lincolnshire Wolds
Louth, Lincolnshire
Informal co-operative of beekeepers producing honey in the Lincolnshire Wolds AONB.
Bees & Co.
Langtoft, Lincolnshire
Award-winning raw British honey from the world's first certified Carbon Neutral honey farm.
Bees n Honey
North Scarle, Lincolnshire
Family-run Lincolnshire beekeeping business selling local honey, beeswax candles, and nucleus hives.
Colsterworth Honey Farm
Colsterworth, Lincolnshire
A South Lincolnshire family bee farm near Grantham, beekeeping since 1948, producing soft-set, borage and heather honey.
Gill-Eve Honey Bees
Louth, Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire Wolds beekeepers producing pure honey and handcrafted beeswax candles using traditional methods.
Hawthorn Cottage Bees
WADDINGTON , Lincolnshire
Heathcote Honey
Ingoldsby, Lincolnshire
Unheated honey from Ingoldsby in rural Lincolnshire, with handmade skincare and leather balm, bee talks and swarm collection.
Jailhouse Farms
Sleaford, Lincolnshire
Raw • Unpasteurised • Traceable to the hive 230g Jar - £7 360g Jar - £10 500g Jar - £12 Unpasteurised and unfiltered wildflower honey harvested at our Mill House Apiary beside the River Slea.
Lincolnshire Honey
Sleaford, Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire Honey produces local honey from apiaries in rural Lincolnshire.
Stax Of Wax Ltd
Grainthorpe, Lincolnshire
Family beekeepers near Louth selling raw Wolds honey, cut comb and handmade beeswax candles, skincare and gifts.