Local Honey Berwick-upon-Tweed

Honey from the Robson family's Chain Bridge Honey Farm at Horncliffe, near Berwick-upon-Tweed, whose hives stand across Northumberland and the Scottish Borders. The business was started in 1948 by beekeeping advisor William Selby Robson and has grown to around 1,800 hives within about 40 miles of Berwick, with the family still running it and building their own hives and equipment.

The mainstay is Tweedside Honey, a mild, smooth set honey from the early summer flowers, alongside a clear late-summer honey and a Tweedside honey blended with heather honey from hives moved up to the heather hills in late July. They specialise in comb honey too, which is seasonal. Their set honey is never heated above 35°C during extraction or bottling. The farm makes a large range from its own beeswax – candles, blocks, shoe, leather and furniture polish, lip balms, hand creams and soaps – plus propolis products and honey mustard.

The visitor centre, shop, museum and beekeeper's garden are free to visit and open every day. Inside are hand-lettered displays on bees and hive products, an observation hive and a collection of vintage vehicles, and there is a café in a converted bus in season. The Union Chain Bridge across the Tweed into Scotland is a short walk away. The full range can also be ordered online, and the honey is sold through a few hundred shops.