Whatton Apiaries
Whatton Apiaries is based on the Whatton estate in North West Leicestershire with the home apiaries in the village of Long Whatton
John Heard has managed honey bee colonies for over 30 years with apiaries sited locally within Charnwood and North West Leicestershire to take full advantage of the varied flora and fauna within our locality to bring varied and interesting local hon
eys to local consumers. All of our product is extracted and bottled in a 4 star food standard facility based in the village of Long Whatton. Our honeys are simply extracted, filtered and blended with no recourse to heat based pasteurisation used in Supermarket honey which destroys the natural enzymes and yeast within the product. We keep the use of heat to a minimum to maintain the quality of our products. We do use electricity within the process but much of the power used is provided by Eco friendly solar panels. We exercise a batch control system which enables us to identify from which apiary and from which extraction every jar of honey is originated. Ours is a unique product brought from flower to jar largely within the confines of the Whatton Estate. We mainly use the “Buckfast” strain of bee originally developed by Brother Adam as his lifetime’s work over a sixty year period at Buckfast Abbey in Devon. Buckfasts are by nature a gentle bee that are entirely attuned to the vagaries of the British climate and do very well in this area. Honey is harvested twice during the beekeeping season. The first crop in June once the fields of oilseed r**e lose their flowers. This crop is very prone to crystallisation and is removed and extracted before this occurs in the comb. The second crop is taken in August as the majority of nectar bearing plants lose their flowers at the end of the Summer. Our hives are then carefully fed and medicated to prepare them for the winter, we always aim to bring 100% of our hives through the Winter and do all we can to achieve this. Hives are kept under close observation during the Winter months to ensure we bring as many colonies as possible through. We care for our bees and do all in our power to maintain their well being and survival.
