_1071 John Mellis' Honey Farm "<p><em>&ldquo;We work up to sixteen hours a day, seven days a week for around seven months each year, otherwise it&rsquo;s brilliant.&nbsp; I simply love being out on the hills with the sound of happily working bees around me.&rdquo;<\/em><\/p><p>On a winding back lane at Auldgirth are the fruits of fifteen million worker bees, capably supported by John Mellis and his partner Joan, who work nearly as hard.<\/p><p>John and Joan will welcome you to a whitewashed converted byre to show you how and where some of Britain&rsquo;s very highest quality honey is produced.&nbsp; All around is birdsong and the sound of the river &ndash; and bees.&nbsp; The flower-covered hills and glens of south west Scotland provide 350 hives of bees with their occupation, allowing John to produce many distinct types of honey, the main ones being: Spring honey made early in the year from trees; Blossom honey from flowers in high summer; Heath and Wildflower honey from wild flowers on higher land; and a magnificent Heather honey from moorland belonging to the Duke of Buccleuch.&nbsp;&nbsp; John pays his rent in jars of honey.<\/p><p>Bees forage in the flowers for nectar and store it in their hive within wooden racks of waxy honeycomb.&nbsp; The nectar becomes honey in the hive and is bee food designed to see the colony through winter.&nbsp; As the honey is removed, John feeds his bees in winter on a specially made ambrosia syrup.<\/p><p>During summer John works a sixteen hour day, sometimes starting at 4am because the bees fly at dawn and must be moved to the moors during the night in readiness for morning.&nbsp; During a good summer the bees can fill a hive with honey in a matter of days.<\/p><p>Once a honey-laden super is brought back to the farm Joan takes over.&nbsp; Each honeycomb is placed in the extractor, which spins with the speed gradually increasing for ten minutes at up to 280rpm.&nbsp; The honey runs into a bucket and is filtered before bottling.<\/p><p>And, of course, it tastes wonderful<\/p>" Organization "<p><em>&ldquo;We work up to sixteen hours a day, seven days a week for around seven months each year, otherwise it&rsquo;s brilliant.&nbsp; I simply love being out on the hills with the sound of happily working bees around me.&rdquo;<\/em><\/p><p>On a winding back lane at Auldgirth are the fruits of fifteen million worker bees, capably supported by John Mellis and his partner Joan, who work nearly as hard.<\/p><p>John and Joan will welcome you to a whitewashed converted byre to show you how and where some of Britain&rsquo;s very highest quality honey is produced.&nbsp; All around is birdsong and the sound of the river &ndash; and bees.&nbsp; The flower-covered hills and glens of south west Scotland provide 350 hives of bees with their occupation, allowing John to produce many distinct types of honey, the main ones being: Spring honey made early in the year from trees; Blossom honey from flowers in high summer; Heath and Wildflower honey from wild flowers on higher land; and a magnificent Heather honey from moorland belonging to the Duke of Buccleuch.&nbsp;&nbsp; John pays his rent in jars of honey.<\/p><p>Bees forage in the flowers for nectar and store it in their hive within wooden racks of waxy honeycomb.&nbsp; The nectar becomes honey in the hive and is bee food designed to see the colony through winter.&nbsp; As the honey is removed, John feeds his bees in winter on a specially made ambrosia syrup.<\/p><p>During summer John works a sixteen hour day, sometimes starting at 4am because the bees fly at dawn and must be moved to the moors during the night in readiness for morning.&nbsp; During a good summer the bees can fill a hive with honey in a matter of days.<\/p><p>Once a honey-laden super is brought back to the farm Joan takes over.&nbsp; Each honeycomb is placed in the extractor, which spins with the speed gradually increasing for ten minutes at up to 280rpm.&nbsp; The honey runs into a bucket and is filtered before bottling.<\/p><p>And, of course, it tastes wonderful<\/p>"