Hive & Keeper

24/10/2026

WANDSWORTH HONEY 🍯 If you’ve ever thought honey was just… honey, then Wandsworth local Emily might change your mind!

Emily is the founder of Hive & Keeper, a small business bringing small-batch honeys from local beekeepers across the UK to market, with every jar labelled with exactly where it came from and how many jars the bees produced.

Emily began keeping bees in her back garden in Wandsworth and noticed that the honey tasted different every time. The flowers, weather, landscape and even the bees themselves all make a difference. That’s now the whole idea behind Hive & Keeper, with each honey genuinely reflecting the place it came from.

You can try Emily’s honey for yourself by shopping locally at places including Capital Gardens and The Earlsfield Grocer (or it’s also available to buy online). There’s a particularly local one to be found at Neal’s Nurseries too, where you’ll find Tooting honey, made by bees kept in a back garden right by Tooting Common, next to Tooting Bec Road 🐝

Hive & Keeper has also just been named one of the Nation’s Favourite Businesses for 2026. Congratulations to Emily and her bees!

11/10/2026

Totally spoiling and genuinely one of the best afternoon pick-me-ups I've ever had!

🙋‍♀️I always ask people for their favourite way to eat their honey and this is one of the answers...

🍯🍌🍞Honey and banana on toast

Simple. Easy. Inspired.

and definitely worth a try!

I used one of our honeys that had already crystallised, you can see how it softens and runs... really delicious

08/10/2026

Meet Ian & Liz from Norfolk.

When they retired, they moved from Ipswich to rural N!orfolk and took up beekeeping.

Right behind their 2 beehives are oak trees planted by Admiral Nelson's brother after the Battle of Trafalgar when everyone was encouraged to grow oaks so that more ships could be built one day!

You can see the oaks in these photos - I love this sort of story I learn from chatting to beekeepers!

New honey from Ian & Liz coming very soon.

05/10/2026

Here's Sarah - and sometimes that's all it takes to make you choose her honey...

"Look Mum—there's Sarah's honey. That's you!"

We've got honeys from Sarah, Eduard, Chris, Kaz, Stephen, Ian, Liz, Marcus, Howard, Tom, Jim, Mike, John and Gayle.

Any of them got the same name as you or your family?

☝️Check links to find your beekeeper and honey 🍯

02/10/2026

Wow!!!!

Now this makes me exceptionally happy - though the bees and their beekeepers take the credit! 🐝🍯 🎉

29/09/2026

And if you're in Hampshire come and find us here too:

The Dummer Fair
Wednesday 7th October 5pm-9:30pm
Thursday 8th October 9:30am-3:30pm

Dummer Cricket Centre
Hampshire RG25 2AR

Come and say hello, we'll be full of have honey from small scale beekeepers across the UK for you to try - perfect gifts and treats 🎁

Two fairs in one week, and then it's my birthday 🥳💐 🐝



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27/09/2026

Come find us this October!⁠
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Apple Day at Fulham Palace⁠
Friday 4th October⁠
11am - 4pm⁠
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Fulham Palace House & Garden⁠
Bishop's Avenue, London SW6 6EA⁠
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Honey, stories, and lots of apples from orchards around London. I love Apple Day, it's such good fun, come and find me there with different honeys for you all to try.⁠
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23/09/2026

A customer told me she puts her crystalised honey on ice cream.

I'd never thought of it.

So I tested it, three times obvs - and then with runny honey too - again, obvs!

The grainy texture of crystallised honey against smooth ice cream is genuinely lovely. Runny honey works too—it stiffens slightly against the cold.

Either way? A total pudding Game changer.

What's your unexpected honey discovery?

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20/09/2026

My first time judging honey and eggs at our village show and I was nervous as hell!

The judging criteria? Perfection. No bits or marks. No bubbles or cracks. Completely clear or perfect colouring. Uniform. Flawless.

I spent ages shining a torch through the honey looking for imperfection, and measuring the eggs with a ruler looking for uniformity.

Which all got me thinking: I spend my time championing the incredible natural differences in raw honey. Their characters and natural variation. Their unrepeatable uniqueness.

Then you put it in a village show and suddenly perfection = uniformity.

Maybe it's time Village Show judges fought back and celebrated nature's differences instead? Or is that what the Wonkiest Veg category is for?!

(PS The honey on the right and the eggs on the left won!)

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17/09/2026

Extremely proud to be one of the Nation's Favourite Businesses!

In the search for the Nation's Favourite Businesses, we meet remarkable entrepreneurs who are completely dedicated to championing British craftmanship.

Founded ten years ago by hobbyist beekeeper Emily Abbott, Hive & Keeper sources extraordinary British honeys from small-scale local beekeepers across the UK.

Every jar is unique, raw, single-apiary, and traceable to one beekeeper and one harvest, with each label revealing the beekeeper's name, location and number of jars produced.

Hive & Keeper honeys are available online as single jars, Honey Club subscriptions, and through selected retailers.

Image description: Emily from Hive & Keeper smiles beside wooden beehives, wearing a white beekeeping suit.