Ican tell you now that there’s going to be rather more than a spoonful of wonderful Hurlingham honey for you this summer. With all the planned updates and wildlife habitat changes going on around them, our bees have just been quietly getting on with the job.

Kathy Stevenson, our super-efficient Apiarist, could hardly wait to tell me that she had extracted something like 100lbs already this year. Very unusual, she said, to find our bees producing honey this early, particularly as it hasn’t been a good season for other beekeepers in the London area. Must be all that loving attention, I told her, given to them by you and your dedicated team of in-house apiarists, led by Head Gardener, Aby Parrot.

But that’s not all. While our bees were slowing down a bit, bless them, as they recovered from their spring exertions, they were still able to carry on collecting pollen and filling more and more supers. If you had a chance to look at the Apiary you will have seen how the hives were building up again. 

And so to the week starting 12 August: Kathy and our enthusiastic in-house apiarists were able to take off another 100lbs of our Hurlingham honey.

A spoonful of honey? More than that! And enough, I think, to fill at least 500 jars! Both batches have distinctly different flavours, depending on which flowers and plants were sourced.

Who can resist a Grand Honey Tasting Party?

Plans are underway and a date has been agreed: 

Wednesday 23 October, 5.45pm in the Terrace Room.

We will be holding a blind tasting of our spring and autumn batches, when you might be able to compare our honey with that of other producers.

Kathy Stevenson, our lead Apiarist, will give a lively lecture on the trials, tribulations and pleasures of beekeeping here at Hurlingham. And there’ll be an opportunity to buy your chosen jar of nectar before it goes on sale.

JEAN BIRD