The Humble Bee Honey
From Our Family To Yours
At Country Hearts Photography, capturing beautiful moments has always been about celebrating family, nature and the countryside. A few years ago, that love for the outdoors grew into something completely unexpected – beekeeping. Today we're incredibly proud to produce small batches of raw Nottinghamshire honey from our own hives in Ravenshead and Moorgreen at family homes, just a few miles from our home and studio.
Every single jar is harvested by hand, unpasteurised, and completely natural. Nothing added. Nothing taken away. Just pure local honey, exactly as the bees made it.
Our Story
Looking after bees has become a real family affair. Jessie is usually the one leading the inspections, checking on the queens, monitoring the colonies and making sure every hive stays healthy throughout the season, with the support of her mentor 'Ben the Bee Man!'
Her stepdad, Dave, is never far behind. He's always happy to climb into a bee suit and lend a hand whenever a hive needs inspecting or it's time to harvest.
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Then come the little helpers...
Freddie (12), George (10), Teddy (8) and little Harry (5) all love getting involved. Whether it's carrying equipment, spotting the queen, helping prepare jars or simply asking a hundred questions about the bees, they're part of every harvest.
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Of course, once the children decide they've had enough (usually when the honey starts getting sticky!), we somehow convince Joe to step in. Although he'd much rather avoid being stung, he always gets roped into lifting supers, carrying heavy boxes and helping wherever he's needed.
It's messy.
It's sticky.
It's chaotic.
And we honestly wouldn't have it any other way.
Harvest Day
Harvesting honey is one of our favourite times of year. Once the bees have filled and capped the honeycomb, we carefully remove just the surplus frames, always leaving the colonies with plenty of their own stores.
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Those frames then make the short journey back to our photography studio, which transforms into a honey room for the day (and usually night!). The children help uncap the frames while the extractor spins the golden honey from the comb. Watching the first stream of fresh honey flow is something that never gets old.
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Before long, every worktop is covered, and the task usually expands into our family kitchen, where the jars are lined up ready, and somehow every single one of us ends up covered in honey. It's wonderfully sticky chaos, but it's become one of our favourite family traditions. Every jar is hand poured, labelled and packed by us before making its way to your kitchen.
The Flavour of Nottinghamshire
One of the most fascinating things about honey is that no two harvests are ever the same.
The taste changes with the seasons and with whatever the bees have been busy visiting.
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Our Moorgreen Honey
Our bees at Moorgreen forage across the beautiful woodland edges of Colliers Wood, nearby hedgerows and surrounding countryside. Throughout the year they collect nectar from wild blackberry blossom, hawthorn, elderflower, clover, lime trees, willow herb, bramble flowers, wild roses and countless native woodland wildflowers. The result is a beautifully rich local honey with incredible depth of flavour. Our spring honey is often darker in colour with a deeper, woodland character. Rich blackberry blossom, early tree nectar and woodland flowers create a full-bodied honey with gentle caramel notes and a slightly earthy finish. As summer arrives, the bees discover fields of clover, wildflowers and flowering hedgerows, producing a lighter golden honey that's beautifully floral, delicately sweet and wonderfully smooth.
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Our Ravenshead Honey
Around Ravenshead our colonies enjoy an abundance of countryside forage. They visit sprawling white clover, red clover, buttercups, dandelions, hawthorn blossom, blackthorn, blackberry brambles, apple blossom, cherry blossom, lime trees, horse chestnut, willow, sycamore, field poppies, wild roses and countless meadow flowers growing across Nottinghamshire's farmland and woodland edges. This creates honey that's beautifully balanced with fresh floral aromas, subtle fruity notes and a naturally creamy sweetness.
Each season tells its own story through flavour.
Raw, Local & Unpasteurised
Our honey is:
100% pure Nottinghamshire honey
Raw and unpasteurised
Hand harvested in small batches
Never blended with imported honey
Free from additives or preservatives
Produced with the welfare of our bees at the heart of everything we do
More than just honey
Our bees do far more than produce delicious honey.
Every day they pollinate thousands of wildflowers, hedgerows, fruit trees and crops throughout Ravenshead and Moorgreen, helping support local biodiversity and wildlife.
Looking after our colonies has taught our children patience, respect for nature and just how amazing these tiny insects really are. When you buy a jar of our honey, you're not simply buying honey.
You're supporting a local family, helping us care for our bees and taking home a little taste of the Nottinghamshire countryside.
From our family to yours... thank you for being part of our journey.
