Surrey is home to the National Honey Show, held each October at Sandown Park in Esher. First staged at the Crystal Palace in 1923, it has competitive classes for UK, overseas and junior exhibitors alongside lectures and workshops. The county's own beekeepers compete each autumn at the Surrey Honey Show, run by Surrey Beekeepers Association, whose eight divisions – Croydon, Epsom, Farnham, Guildford, Kingston, Reigate, Weybridge and Wimbledon – are good contacts for local honey and swarm help.
Some Surrey producers keep each apiary's honey separate. Surrey Hills Honey sells named honeys from small apiaries around Haslemere, including a sweet chestnut and blackberry honey from Blackdown; Epsom Beekeepers sell honey by apiary, from Epsom Common to an urban apiary; and Honey I'm Home aims to sell each apiary's honey to retailers within about three miles of the hives.
Much of the honey here is bought in shops rather than at the door. Reigate Beekeepers supply farm shops, nurseries and cafés across Mole Valley and Reigate & Banstead, East Surrey Bees and Honey I'm Home are stocked by local shops, and Epsom Beekeepers welcome buyers at the apiary. Others, including The Hive Honey Co at Tadworth and Addlestone Honey, sell mainly online or at markets.
Sweet chestnut is the county's distinguishing crop. Coppiced across the Weald and the greensand, it flowers in early July and yields a dark, strongly flavoured honey with a faint bitterness that people either seek out or avoid entirely. The western heaths — Chobham, Thursley, Frensham — carry bell heather and ling, and the rhododendron that colonises them adds an early-June flow in places. On the chalk of the North Downs, colonies work clover and downland wildflowers. Surrey's suburbs are also serious bee country: mature garden planting, street lime and long flowering seasons in Guildford, Woking and the Epsom and Reigate belt mean urban apiaries here often outproduce rural ones.
Two extremes in one county — pale, mild garden and clover honey from the suburbs, and dark, tannic chestnut honey from the Wealden woods.
Flowering times are typical and can shift by two to three weeks with the weather, season and altitude.
Guildford, Woking, Farnham, Epsom, Reigate, Dorking, Godalming, Camberley
Dark amber to near-black, with a strong, slightly bitter, almost tannic finish and a long aftertaste. It is nothing like a supermarket blossom honey. Cooks tend to like it with cheese rather than on toast. Ask Wealden producers around Cranleigh, Dorking and Godalming in late July.
Frequently better. Suburban Surrey has continuous flowering from February to October across thousands of gardens, plus street lime in July, whereas farmland can go empty between crops. Urban colonies here are often stronger and the honey more varied in flavour.
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.
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