HONEY

Bees and trees at twinways orchard,  without pollination the orchard wouldn't be much more than a five acre copse.  Being dependant on apples for some of our income bees had to at least feature.  However we've gone further than that!  We were already keeping before we moved to Melplash and our bees are an important part of our business.  Before we had apple yields to worry about they were kept for honey production and kept largely as migratory bees moved about with the crops.  This didn't last long though as moving bees is stressful for both parties and honey yields are too fickle to be dependant on at our scale.  

Now we keep multiple apiaries around the area to provide a mixture of floral sources and styles of honey that reflect the terroir of this beautiful part of Dorset.  Some colonies for pollination of other cider apple orchards in the area and a handful of hives for breeding queens and replacement colonies for our own use and for sale.

All our apiary sites are subtly distinctive and so when it is time to harvest the honey each location is harvested separately.  It is possible to have not only a spring and summer honey or a set or runny honey but you can taste the difference between spring and summer from one micro climate across a selection of sites.  The provenance of each batch is carefully recorded and it is possible to say when the honey was extracted and where the bees were located while they were foraging and how many jars were produced.  Our honey is extracted raw which leaves all the delicate flavours and volatile compounds which are destroyed by heating.  So many people give us wonderful feedback about how delicate and interesting our honey is that it makes all the extra effort worthwhile.