WEBSTER HONEY’S BEES FIND THE PERFECT LOCATION ON CRAIGSANQUHAR ESTATE.
Hospitality Business to sponsor honeybee hives as it looks to bring down its food miles and add homegrown honey to its collection of existing products
Kinross based artisan honey business, Webster Honey, has announced that it is working with Craigsanquhar Estate near Cupar.
Having initially approached the family run estate, garden and restaurant about supplying its Scottish Apiaries Honey to the business, which is planning to launch a Farm Shop later this year, Craigsanquhar found out more about Webster Honey’s offer to businesses, and has now agreed to host several hives in its grounds.
Looking to bring its food miles down, and to let its estate work as it once did to provide fruit, vegetables, flowers, and more, Craigsanquhar has both a working walled garden, and an ornamental garden that was restored in 2019.
With the working garden producing very well for the estate, Elizabeth Herkes, daughter of the current owners, felt that bringing bees to Craigsanquhar was the most natural and sustainable way to pollinate their gardens. Together with her husband, Jason, who was brought up in Ceres and Cupar, she manages the estate, which is an Orvis endorsed wingshooting lodge, on a daily basis.
“Bees are vitally important to the farming industry, and we are excited to help them thrive,” she said. “Hopefully, it is beneficial to the surrounding farmers and landscape as well.”
“As well as improving our carbon footprint through bringing down food miles, we decided to get on board with Webster Honey because we already have a popular range of signature condiments, including jams and chutneys, which we plan to sell in our forthcoming shop,” added Elizabeth. “We can now add our own honey to this collection.”
Webster Honey enables those hosting its hives to purchase the honey a hive produces. It can jar and label the honey for them.
“We will sell the honey to our retail customer base, as well as using it in the hotel kitchen for breakfast, for use in recipes, and for baking. We are very excited, and can’t wait for the bees to work their magic,” she said.
Having consulted with Webster Honey beekeeper, Meik Molitor, Craigsanquhar’s Head Gardener, Colin Smith, has chosen the perfect spot for the hives, located on the East side of the front lawn in a sheltered area.
“We feel that our guests, who come here to enjoy shooting, fishing and golfing, will enjoy the sustainability aspect, as well as taking home honey from the very place they visited,” said Elizabeth, who is also interested in potential future engagement with Webster Honey, including offering beekeeping experiences to guests, and arranging visits for local schoolchildren to see the hives.
She finished by saying: “Webster Honey have so many practical and achievable ways that businesses like ours can get involved in. They make it easy to save the bees!”
Said Webster Honey’s Meik Molitor: “What a fantastic bee friendly location for our bees this beautiful estate is, they are absolutely going to love it here, surrounded by so many fruits, vegetables and flowers. Elizabeth and her husband are to be commended as they have had the foresight to see exactly where bees fit into the fragile eco system with their vital pollination role. It will be my pleasure to tend these hives over the summer months.”
“Hopefully they will start producing soon, and Elizabeth can look forward to filling the shelves of her shop with delicious, home produced honey, potentially flavoured with flowers and herbs from her own garden.”
Other hospitality businesses currently working with Webster Honey include Monachyle Mhor at Balquhidder, and Eden Locke Aparthotel in George Street, Edinburgh.
Further details on how all types of businesses can engage with Webster Honey can be found online at https://www.websterhoney.com/bees-and-your-business/
