Eating Game and Local Produce

Hexton Hives

Honey bees have been kept on the Hexton Manor Estate for many years.

Beverley and Barry Underwood are local bee keepers who tend their hives located on the Estate.

Following a family tradition of bee keeping, Beverley’s late Father, Len Fletcher from Beadlow, kept bees all his life, as have previous generations of the family.

Pictured here: Beverley and her brother Alan selling their honey circa 1969.

Alan worked on the Hexton Estate for over 30 years, he also keeps bees.

Beverley’s Great Grandmother is pictured here. The family were publicans and ‘housed’ their bees in disused beer barrels as well as traditional skeps. circa1920

Our bee keeping legacy continues.

Honey Extraction

Using traditional methods, sealed frames are uncapped by hand using a traditional uncapping fork.

The frames are then placed in an extractor which uses centrifugal force to remove the honey from the honey comb. This is one of Beverley’s’ favourite things to do, evoking childhood memories of ‘spinning’ the honey.

The liquid honey is then passed through a set of filters (sieves) to remove any wax debris before it runs into the ‘settling’ tank, ready for ‘jarring up’ later.

Nothing added and nothing taken away.

The taste of honey changes is very much dependant on the forage available to the bees. Our honey is a natural produce, it’s not been blended, and the taste will vary in tune with the changing seasons and it’s certainly very different to the honey available in supermarkets. As our honey is it’s a natural un-treated product, it will naturally granulate in time, but it can easily be restored to the liquid state, just stand the jar in hot water (loosen lid first), gently stir the honey till it becomes liquid.