Tag: 2025 Beekeeping Season

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March Madness!

A very exciting month has just passed and spring is well and truly underway! The reason I didn’t blog last month is that I’d snuck away on holiday before the madness of our spring and summer got underway! 

Since I’ve been back we’ve been busy jarring to keep up with spring demand, not only of our own delicious honey but also for some of our packing customers too. 

We had a really exciting visit just last week with the BBC (maybe it should be BEE BEE C) on the farm filming our hives and interviewing me about honey adulteration and why cheap fake honey often sold in supermarkets impacts real beekeepers. 

Back with the bees themselves and one of the most important jobs in March is checking on the colonies after the winter months. We carefully inspect the hives, ensuring the queens are active and that each colony has enough food to sustain them until nectar flows become more reliable. Thanks to the mild weather, our bees have been more active than usual, venturing out to collect early pollen from snowdrops, crocuses, and willow trees. 

We’ve been really happy to see their growth and they look in great shape for the season to come. The other benefit of the drier spring is I’ve not gotten my pickup stuck in any fields yet!

Over the next few weeks we will be feeding any colonies that need it to spur them on and start making sure we have an even amount of brood (baby bees) in each hive so that they develop at much the same speed which makes our management much easier for the rest of the season!

British honey, Honey, Natural honey, raw honey, uk honey, unpasteurised honey, Holt Hall Apiary, Tamworth, Ginger Infused Honey 227g

Honey Lemon Drizzle Cake

Ingredients:

  • 175g unsalted butter, softened

  • 150g runny honey

  • 100g caster sugar

  • 3 large eggs

  • 225g self-raising flour

  • Zest of 1 lemon

  • 2 tbsp milk

For the drizzle:

 

  • Juice of 1 lemon

  • 2 tbsp honey

Method:

  1. Preheat your oven to 170°C (fan) and grease a loaf tin.

  2. Beat the butter, honey, and sugar until pale and fluffy.

  3. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well.

  4. Fold in the flour, lemon zest, and milk until combined.

  5. Pour into the tin and bake for 40-45 minutes until golden and a skewer comes out clean.

  6. Mix the lemon juice and honey, then drizzle over the warm cake.

  7. Let it soak in before slicing and enjoying!

Thank you for reading our short blog, if you want to know anything about what we get up to please do email us on info@holthallapiary.co.uk and I would be happy to answer it here!

Have a great month!

Matthew Ingram
Holt Hall Apiary

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Hap-bee New Year!

Happy New Year! What a year 2024 was! It seems to have absolutely flown by. This time last year we were just starting our biggest ever order of 100,000 1oz jars not knowing quite how we would do it, in the end it was all fine and we learnt a lot from it! 

Throughout this year we’ve been busy growing and re-investing in the business which means that as I sit here writing this today we have filled over 3x the amount of jars as we did in 2023 . We’ve got big plans for this year too with lots of new developments and a massive 200 pallet warehouse being converted from one of the old farm building as we speak! 

The order fulfilment side of the business also came in to its own this year with Shara who works in our mini warehouse sending over 200 parcels in one day during the run up to Christmas for all of the different brands we work with.

Aside from all of the other brands we work with our Holt Hall Apiary brand has undergone a refresh which seems to have gone down well so far! During 2025 we really want to bring some of the focus back to our own brand which I think is unique in the fact we are actually beekeepers not just some large brand buying and selling honey with now actual connection to the bees! 

During this year we also continued our hugely popular beekeeping experiences and did a couple of beginner beekeeping days too. 

For those who haven’t come across them before we offer hands on beekeeping experiences for those who just have an interest in bees. You don’t need any experience or kit you just book your slot and we have about 45 minutes chatting about the bees and the ‘theory’ side of beekeeping before we get you suited up and head out beekeeping, where you really do the beekeeping yourself (with a little guidance).

The full day course is much more in-depth, the morning is spent going over the theory of beekeeping along with all of the equipment you need and what you’ll be looking for at certain times of the year. Then after a light lunch we head out for a couple of hours of beekeeping where you’ll get to go through lots of hives and learn loads!!

Finally I just want to say thank you to all of you, our customers and supporters. I’m now going into my 8th year as a beekeeper and it’s amazing to see how quickly we have grown over the past few years. That couldn’t be done without all of you, sharing our social media post, recommending us to friends and family and of course enjoying our honey. 

I hope you all have a wonderful 2025 and keep up with us throughout 


Matthew Ingram
Holt Hall Apiary