Brightwell Bees

We gather honey from our hives in South Oxfordshire and West Berkshire two times during the year. Spring honey is harvested from mid to late May, and summer honey is taken off in late July. The bees will then replenish their own winter stores with late summer flowers. Ivy flowers are particularly important, and honeybees will gather ivy pollen and nectar right through until the end of October.

The frames of honey are then uncapped with a special knife which removes the wax cappings which seal the honey filled beeswax cells.

Uncapped frames are then placed into a honey extractor, and the honey is gently spun out of the honeycomb's beeswax cells. The honey is filtered and it is then ready to be jarred – a very simple and natural procedure!

Find out about how bees make honey and our local honey.

A honeycomb frame

Uncapping honeycomb - we use the surplus wax for candle making

Uncapped frames in the honey extractor

Copyright © Viv and Steve Moll Brightwell Bees 2009 - 2011