Warwickshire's honey follows its farming and gardens. In the south of the county, Sweet Apiaries, a bee farm at Clarkes Green near Studley, jars single-crop honeys from borage, echium, horse chestnut and lime as well as spring and summer honey. At Warwickshire Lavender Farm in Bubbenhall the bees work the lavender fields when they are in flower, and Burton Green Honey near Kenilworth takes a few colonies to the Derbyshire heather moors in late summer.
Warwickshire Beekeepers Association is the umbrella for eight branches, from Birmingham, Coventry and Rugby to Shipston-on-Stour and Warwick & Leamington, and runs a county honey show for members. The Warwick & Leamington branch publishes a list of members who sell their honey.
Honey is easy to find in local shops. Honeyfields Bee Farm near Coventry, family-run since 1985, extracts and bottles its honey on site; Fosse Way Honey, with hives in the north Cotswolds around Shipston on Stour and Witney, is stocked in Co-op stores, farm shops and delis across Warwickshire and the Cotswolds; and Brookside Bees in Kenilworth supplies several shops in Kenilworth and Leamington. North of Coventry, Denbee Honey names its Corley Gold honey after the village where its hives stand.
The remnants of the Forest of Arden in the north and west supply lime, sycamore and field maple, while the Avon valley farmland to the south brings oilseed rape, beans and hedgerow hawthorn. The county's canals matter more than they look: their banks are unmown, unsprayed corridors of bramble, willowherb and balsam running for miles through otherwise farmed land, and they hold colonies through late summer when the fields have finished. Around Leamington, Warwick and Stratford, parkland and mature garden planting extend the season at both ends. There is no single dominant crop here, which is exactly why Warwickshire honey varies so much between apiaries a few miles apart.
Classic mixed blossom honey — medium amber, floral, sets to a fine grain. Apiaries near the canals often produce a darker late-summer crop.
Flowering times are typical and can shift by two to three weeks with the weather, season and altitude.
Warwick, Leamington Spa, Stratford-upon-Avon, Rugby, Nuneaton, Kenilworth, Bedworth, Alcester
Because the county has no single dominant crop. An apiary on the Avon valley farmland works rape and beans; one three miles away on a canal bank works bramble and balsam. Forage range is roughly three miles, so neighbouring beekeepers genuinely produce different honey — worth trying more than one.
Usually Himalayan balsam, which grows thickly along the canals and rivers and flowers into September. It gives a distinctive dark, slightly musky honey — and gives the bees a ghostly white dusting of pollen that is easy to spot at the hive entrance.
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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