HEATHER 2025 - available now

This summer, our bees foraged at a completely new location in the Yorkshire Dales - a majestic heather moor sitting 550 metres above sea level, the highest site we’ve ever kept hives. It’s a remote and rugged landscape, and the honey gathered there is distinctively and unmistakably heather, yet light, with a flavour all of it's own.

Heather honey is one of Britain’s rarest and most celebrated honeys. It has natural properties that are often compared to manuka. It’s a true Yorkshire powerhouse, shaped entirely by our northern moorlands.

Heather blooms for only a few precious weeks each year, so timing is critical. Matthew selects his strongest colonies and we move them to the moor just as the flowers open. The bees have a short window to bring in the nectar before the weather turns or the blooms fade.

And the weather really does matter. Too much rain or wind and the bees can't or won't forage. Add to that the increasing challenge of heather beetle - a major threat to moorland heather across the UK - and it’s easy to see why producing heather honey is anything but guaranteed.

This year we were extremely fortunate to be able to use a moor we’ve never worked before. Alongside that good fortune came a lot of hard work - strong colonies, careful preparation, long days and nights on the moor and it all came together at just the right moment.

Heather honey behaves very differently to our other honeys. It is thixotropic, which means it sets firmly in the comb and cannot be spun out in the same way. Once the frames return from the moor, the heather press is used to loosen the honey. Only then can the frames be spun, and even then it is done in small batches of just 6 frames at a time. By contrast, our other honeys can be extracted 24 frames at a time, so the heather extraction and jarring process takes much longer from start to finish.

Our ethos is simple - genuine local provenance. Everything is done by us, from caring for the bees to harvesting the frames, extracting the honey, jarring, labelling and selling. Nothing is outsourced. Just authentic Yorkshire honey made by Matthew’s own bees in the Dales.

This year’s Heather Honey is the result of strong colonies, many hours of work and good fortune with the weather. It’s a honey with a real sense of place - wild, floral and unmistakably Yorkshire.

If you’re visiting our stall, look for the purple label. A 340 g jar is £12.50.

We hope you enjoy the distinctive character of honey from this special landscape.