Sally’s Spring Honey: A Sweet Story from Nunton Farm 🍯

As the fields around Nunton Farm spring into life, so begins the busiest season for Sally, a local beekeeper with 17 years of experience.

Surrounded by water meadows and wildflower-rich farmland, Sally’s apiary benefits from a beautiful, diverse environment. After years of beekeeping and as an active member of the Salisbury and District Beekeepers Association, Sally continues to care for her bees with deep knowledge, attention, and love.

🌼 What’s in bloom?

You may have noticed that the landscape around Nunton has taken on its spring colours—a patchwork of green fields and bright yellow oilseed rape. This vibrant crop is the main source of pollen for Sally’s honeybees, alongside horse chestnut blossoms and wildflowers like dandelions, which also play a part in their diet.

Bees forage within a 5-mile radius, gathering nectar and pollen that not only feed the hive but also support the pollination of local crops and wild plants.

"The honey bee signifies life itself. Without the bees there is no humanity. They are our sacred planetary elders, making our current abundance of flora and fauna possible.” - Voyce During-Jones

🍯 What makes oilseed rape honey unique?

The honey produced from oilseed rape nectar has:

• A subtle and sweet flavour

• A naturally creamy texture

• Nutritional benefits - it is rich in proteins, carbohydrates, and vitamins A, B1, B2, and B3

• It is also believed to support kidney and digestive health

Sally gently filters her honey through a fine mesh sieve. Some is left to crystallise into a smooth, spreadable honey, and some is warmed slightly to create a golden, runny alternative.

💡Did you know?

🐝 Bees have distinct task specialization and hive roles depending on their age, a term known as polyethism.

🐝 Bees “dance” (aka shake their bee booties and spin in circles) to signal the exact location of the most prolific flower / pollen patch in respect to their colony.

🐝 One of every three bites we take is because of the work of pollinators, the honeybee in particular.

🌪 Swarming Season: What Beekeepers Watch For

Spring is also swarm season. This is when a bee colony might split, with the queen and half the workers leaving to find a new home.

To prevent this, Sally inspects her hives regularly—checking for queen cells, crowding, and other early signs. With careful management, she keeps her colonies strong and healthy through the most active time of year.

🍯  Some benefits of local honey

• A great sweetener, with no added sugars or preservatives and doesn’t spike insulin in the way that refined sugar does

• Rich in antioxidants, enzymes, and prebiotics

• Believed to help with seasonal allergies

• Naturally antibacterial and antiseptic

• No air miles (though the bees may disagree!), and supports local ecology and food production

• Great for calming down, can be used for sleep and stress

🐝 Bee Care Comes First

Sally knows her bees—each queen and hive has its own personality. She ensures they’re well cared for by:

• Leaving them enough honey to survive the winter

• Insulating hives during cold months

• Monitoring their health all year round

• Respecting the Bees’ Natural Rhythms, working with the seasons and avoiding disturbing them during cold weather or late in the day when they’re less active.

🍯 Coming Soon: This Year’s Harvest

Sally has just extracted and bottled the first batch of honey of the season! Keep an eye out for this year’s harvest of Nunton set and runny honey in our vending machines, and let us know which is your favourite in the comments!