My name is Carl, and I’ve been beekeeping on a small commercial scale for about five years. I’d long been interested in bees, and during COVID, I finally decided to take the plunge. A local beekeeper offered to be on the end of the phone for advice or guidance, which gave me the confidence I needed to start.

I began with a single colony, ordered over the winter in preparation for spring. As the season approached, I realised that if I was going to do this seriously, it would need to be a proper business — one that could support itself. So I added a couple more colonies. It didn’t take long for me to become completely hooked, and I soon discovered that others loved the honey the bees and I were producing.

Fast forward a few years, and I now manage around 50 colonies across the beautiful Dorset countryside. I am deeply committed to treating the bees with care and respect, and in return, they remain gentle and productive — a true symbiotic relationship between bee and beekeeper.

A selection of my honey is delivered fresh to Modbury Farm Shop, which sits within a five-mile radius of my hives, ensuring it is as local, natural, and full of energy as possible. People often ask what makes it taste so good — the answer is simple: I do nothing to it other than extract and coarse-filter it. It’s exactly as the bees intended.

As the slogan on my business logo says: Happy bees, tasty honey.