WILLIES BEES SETTLE DOWN FOR LONG, HARD WINTER (December 2005)

Probably the most prolific food producers in the region are Willie Robson’s honey bees at Chain Bridge Honey Farm at Horncliffe, near Berwick. After an industrious summer amid the heather clad hills of north Northumberland and on the other side of the Border, the bees are currently being moved in their hives to more sheltered spots away from the cold winds.

With around 1,700 hives to shift to abandoned gardens and farm steadings where stone walls still stand, Willie and his son Stephen have a lot of hard work to do before the really foul weather sets in. As for the bees they manage to keep going by feeding on the heather honey they have collected during the warmer months. However, come the New Year the Robsons have again to check regularly on the hives to make sure their valued charges are not going hungry. To keep them alive until Spring and the arrival of the first flowers of 2006, Willie will feed the bees on baker’s fondant which is cut into slabs and inserted into their hives. It is a ritual that has gone on at the honey farm for over 50 years. In that time the Robsons have formed a close relationship with their bees which, after all, are the basis of the farm’s success.

The Chain Bridge Honey Farm visitor centre stays open all year round with one of the most impressive beekeeping museums in the country, although Willie Robson is far too modest to make that claim…