Tudor Thatch Honey

10/05/2025

Beautiful woodland location and they love it this spring.

29/04/2025

I posted this picture in 2023, I was told this old hive hadn’t been opened for at least 12 years.
There is a common belief within the beekeeping world that honeybees can nolonger survive without what we call (Integrated pest management), this is mainly due to the varroa mite.
If that theory is correct then a colony surviving like this one would be impossible and you would expect them to be very sick, to be honest from my own experience I was more than a little sceptical that what I was looking at had actually survived more than a few years, often a colony will die to be replaced by a new swam.
Anyway as this hive was preparing to swam this was an ideal opportunity to take some and produce some new colonies.
Well roll on 2 years this month and I still have a colony descendant from this that seams 100% fit, strong and productive without any toxic pesticides used.

It’s 100% clear to me that nature finds a way and has been doing so for 50 million years with the honeybee.
What’s holding nature back is not new pests like the varroa mite but man’s meddling with honeybee genetics in an aim to produce better more beekeeper friendly/honey producing bees.
Unfortunately most UK beekeepers buy in new queen which have been artificially breed from selected queens, even artificially inseminated. These have little to no varroa resistance and require regular treatments otherwise they quickly become ill, worse still they produce drones that then spread there genetics weakening any natural varroa resistance within the environment.

28/11/2024

Will be at tomorrow from 5pm

https://www.facebook.com/100057334965066/posts/1100716695182819/?app=fbl

The CHIEVELEY CHRISTMAS TREE will be officially lit this coming Friday evening at the village hall. With of course a supporting Christmas market. The lights will be switched on at 7pm. All welcome.

22/11/2024

Most wax wood polish is made using petroleum based solvents and paraffin wax or imported beeswax.

Treat your wooden furniture to some of our beeswax polish, made from our own West Berkshire beeswax mixed with traditional gum turpentine. This is a traditional polish that will give your wood a natural shine and protection.

16/11/2024

We are here today for their xmas market.
Pop in and find us, here until 4pm, amazing pub with great character 👍

https://www.facebook.com/100050826440756/posts/1192707455766791/?app=fbl

An award-winning British dining room with bedrooms in the heart of West Berkshire farmland giving yo

03/11/2024

We are currently Kintbury Food & Craft Market. Kintbury Food & Craft Market.

03/11/2024

kintbury_food__craft_market

01/11/2024

https://apple.news/ArSYrTTeLTHWv3UTvAaDUiA

Diane Kochilas, who lives on the island says that raw honey could be contributing to Ikaria's residents' longer lives.
Honey, be it raw or not, has long been known to have a range of health benefits that could contribute along with other factors to increasing someone's lifespan.

The island of Ikaria is one of the world's 'blue zones' where people are known to live for a long time compared to other places on Earth

07/08/2024

We have a limited number of punnets of comb honey.
This summer fresh and probably the best flavour I have tasted in years.
These will be available on Sunday Hungerford Food Community
very competitly priced for well over 200grams.

06/07/2024

looks like the cut comb honey will be ready for next weekends Hungerford Food Community market 😋

23/06/2024

Just setup at Chieveley village fete, here until 5pm

26/05/2024

The first two pictures are of nature's best achievement of a rose and a honeybee.

The second two are man selected hybrids which might look better at first glance both from aesthetics and in the case of the honeybee, increased production.

Man doesn't know best though, however nature does.
The hybrid tea rose might look beautiful to us but it's tightly closed petals, hidden pollen and nectaries offer little to insects, in fact many insects shun man's creations for their impracticability.
Also hybrids are far weaker and less disease resistant.

Same to with the Buckfast hybrid bee, breed to produce unnatural sized colonies that produce unnatural quantities of honey, while being 'easy to handle' unfortunately they also have many negatives.

Personally I believe nature knows best and man is just bending the rules of nature in clumsy ignorance.

As a member of BIBBA we don't run hybrids but allow nature to select what works best given our climate and local conditions.