About the Spike Bees & Charlotteville HONEY

The distances that honey bees will travel when foraging is still something of a mystery but is currently recognised as being typically 2.5 miles (4Km).  So looking around the Spike you will get a good idea of the fantastic choice they have when out working:

St Catherine’s Park

Pewley Down AONB

The Spike Gardens

Merrow Downs

Stoke Park

Warren Farm

Two distinctly different bee colonies

We currently have two National Hives at the Spike.  In 2015 we installed a wooden National Hive in the Spike garden where it is sheltered by adjacent walls and sits comfortably under the Hawthorn Tree.  The hive struggled for the first three years but, with care and perseverance 2020 was an exceptional year for this hive which was started with bees collected from a swarm.  Only problem is that our visitors get in the way and these are busy bees!

The Garden Hive

With the ‘bonnet open’

SPOT the Queen bee

Inspection Time

The second hive is up on the roof but sheltered from the worst of the elements by an adjacent wall.  This is polystyrene National Hive which will be much better in the winter and generally is better at regulating the hive’s temperature.  This  is a very productive hive which is doing very well in its present location and in July 2017 started producing the first Charlotteville HONEY.

The frame you see in the middle picture weighs 1.4Kg which will provide approximately two 1lb jars of honey!  Look closely at the picture on the right and you will see bees beginning to hatch.

Our thanks go to Cllr. Mark Brett-Warburton who helped with the seed funding for these hives, the occupants of which help to pollinate fields and gardens for miles around