Keith shows me his bees' honey

We needed some fresh vegetable supplies today, so I drove up to the Stancombe Beech farm shop outside Bisley. I was greeted in the yard by Jim Dickinson, the farmer who started their shop as well as being a producer of the renowned honey which is named after him. He was watering the young vegetable plants they have grown for sale and we had a quick chat.

I went inside and picked the vegetables I needed as well as 18 eggs and some of the delicious cherries they are selling at present. Sally, who is Jim's daughter, was serving some other people in front of me, when I was greeted by both Ashley and Keith, who are Jim's sons. I chatted to Ashley about the Eagles documentary which was on tv last night which prompted a lively discussion with another customer who'd overheard us. It is the nature of the shop that nearly everyone knows someone or other, and so it is always hard to leave without a fun conversation.

I said to Keith that he looked like he had been working hard, and he then asked if I had my camera because he thought I might like to see what he had been doing. He is now mostly in charge of the honey production, having taken over from his Dad. He whisked me off to one of their sheds and proceeded to give me a lively guided tour of the whole production line which was fascinating. He explained about the life cycle of the bees , how their hives were prepared, where they site them, the recent problems of loss of bee populations and a general introduction to the world of honey production.

I managed to snap just a couple of pictures in the rather circumstances, but it has confirmed my intention to ask the whole family if I can do a photographic record of all aspects of the farm, its products and the delightful extended family who run it.

This picture is of the empty honey rack on the left, which will go back in the hive , having been cleaned of honey this morning. On the right is one which he is about to clean showing it full of honey in the combs. Immediately after I took this shot, he showed me how to scrape my finger along the top of the comb and let me taste the honey off it. Exquisite!

I have posted a picture on my Blipfolio of Keith doing exactly that to a fresh collection of combs from a hive.