Andrew's tour of the North East Sweetness and light

Date Published:

06/08/2008

Gail Urquhart added Chain Bridge Honey Farm to the Map saying: "The most beautiful honey is produced by bees foraging on wild flowers." So I went all Winnie the Pooh and set off in search of honey

Willie Robson comes from a long line of beekeepers and at 63 year's old he's been dealing in all things bee related for most of his working life. Over the years Willie and his family have built Chain Bridge into a food destination. They've added a fascination museum, a café, a shop and two Routemaster buses (including the Number 12 that I used to get home to Camberwell in my 20s). The hives - over 2000 of them - are scattered around Northumbria and parts of Southern Scotland in a 40-mile radius. The bees are moved three times a year - from near oil seed rape and wild flowers, which produces a light sweet honey, to heather moors, which produces a rich darker honey, and finally to a sheltered spot to survive the winter.

Buzz stop

The museum has panels and boards illustrated by calligrapher, Dorien Irving, and intricate murals painted by artist, Tony Johnson, lending the whole place a sort of religious feel. This is a chapel dedicated to the bee. There are references to mead, to coats of arms, to the emblem of Manchester (industrious as bees) to beekeeping in medieval times, as well as a blow by blow account of modern honey production.

Industrious workers

Next I have a tour of the production facilities with Joth Hankinson. Here they bring in the 'supers', which contain 10 frames of wax honeycomb and honey. At Chain Bridge they produce not only edible honey but candles, furniture polish and cosmetics such as lip balms and ointments - nothing is wasted.

Watch me have a tour of production with Joth.

The plight of the bumble bee

As some of you are no doubt aware, all is not well in the world of beekeeping. "Disease is the biggest problem," says Willie, and the biggest disease is Varroa; a mite that lives on the bee and weakens it by feeding off its blood. The beekeeping world is in turmoil as how best to deal with it. "It's like the grouse," Willie says, throwing me for a moment. "The honey bee is a totally wild animal." He tells me how some people have tried importing bees from Argentina and elsewhere, but they don't cope well with the harsh British winters. There are problems with insecticides and organophosphates used by other agricultural sectors and finally there's a dwindling supply of experience and knowledge in the industry. "We've got to study all we've learnt in a lifetime and stick to these principles," says Willie.

The bees in Willie's hives (apis mellifera) are native to Northern Europe and for now are doing OK but, like any other type of farming, he's beholden to the British weather. "The spring was damp," says Willie, meaning this year's yield will be down. It seems the bees aren't the only ones hoping for a little sun this summer.

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