Fanny's Farm Shop

Honey

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Fanny's Farm shop is the site of around 10 hives, At the height of the summer each one contains approximately 60,000 to 80,000 nectar gathering working bees.  These local bred bees are situated to the surrounding downland conditions

The bees are managed by British Bee Keepers Association Master Bee keeper Maurice Field, for the production of honey from nectar flowers at the Farm shop and surrounding countryside.

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During the month of May to July, The Fannys Farm shop bees produce honey from the nectar of the rich flora of the surrounding chalk downland, one of the best districts for all round honey production in the United Kingdom.
Little or no nectar is collected until the spring, maple, dandelion,sycamore,horsechestnut,hawthorn  and cultivated rape.  These give way in the summer to blackberry, whiteclover, lime trees,rosabay willowherb, sweet chestnut and cultivated field crops and the small chalk loving plants of vetches, thymes, majoram and scabious.  Even thistles, travellers joy, knapweed, yellow meliot and red clover all contribute to the delicate bouquet of the Farm shop honey
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To prevent the bees swarming, and to monitor any disease problems, the bees are inspected at weekly intervals, Each well-managed hive of bees produces approximately 50 pounds of honey in an average English summer.  If local farmers cultivate more nectar bearing crops, or if a summer is hot and humid, each hive could reasonably produce nearly double that amount.

Depending on the weather, it is sometimes possible to harvest a small crop of honey in June.  A larger crop, called the main crop, is harvested late in July. Any nectar gathered after that is used by the bees to store for the winter.

In 1990 at the United Kingdoms National Honey Show,  Fanny's farm Shop Honey was judged "Best in Surrey" and featured in The Surrey County Magazine.