Daventry, Northamptonshire
Compassionate beekeeping and respect for the natural world
Welcome to
Rivendell Bees
Honey Co.
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Rivendell Bees Honey Co
Beekeepers, and Artisans of Hive Products.
Centred in Daventry, Rivendell Bees Honey Co is dedicated to encouraging everyone to help in providing habitats and forage for not only our native bees, and managed honeybee colonies, but all wildlife - in our own gardens and allotments, community and public spaces. Even using window boxes and containers to grow pollinator flowers will help!
Many species of bee are in trouble.
With habitat loss, intensive farming methods, the over-use of insecticides and herbicides, and the
introduction of new and deadly diseases affecting feral and managed colonies, numbers are
declining with the inevitable knock-on effect on food crop
pollination, and garden and wild flowers.
98% of wildflower meadows have disappeared from the UK since the 1920s.
We want as many people as possible to join us and set aside at least one square metre for bees and wildlife.
We hope to provide islands and corridors for bees and wildlife to move through, and recover their numbers.
You can help save the bees....!
The Bee Hive
Our shop, The Bee Hive, is located at The Old Dairy Farm Craft Centre, Main Street, Upper Stowe, Northamptonshire, NN7 4SH.
In addition to having the full range of our super products available, we also make on - site our lovely beeswax candles, polishes. wax wraps and balms, build hives and hive parts.
Our shop is usually open 11.45 - 3.00 pm every Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday.
Please check our social media pages for opening time updates every week - we usually post on a Sunday evening.
You are welcome to call us on 07742 43 39 44 to check if we will be open before making the trip!
Our online shop is always available, with free local delivery/collection, and postage to any UK address.
We hope to see you there in the future - call in for a chat and a browse!
Free local delivery
Rivendell Bees Honey Co Online Shop
Postage to any UK address
Collection from Daventry
Events Calendar
*Summer Fair: Saturday 6 July, 10.00 - 4.30pm, Old Dairy Farm
*Foodies Market: Saturday 7 September, 10.00 - 3.00pm, Daventry Town Centre
*Fun Dog Show and Market: Saturday 14 September, 10.00 - 3.00pm, Old Dairy Farm
*Christmas Market: Saturday 16 November, 10.00 - 4.30pm, Old Dairy Farm
*Christmas Market: Saturday 23 November, 10.00 - 3.00pm, Daventry Town Centre
Events Calendar
Rivendell Bees Honey - 100% Artisan Honey
Rivendell Bees honey – straight from our hives to your table.
Our summer months are spent working with the bees – inspecting, nurturing and finally extracting the bees’ honey by hand – we like to keep it simple and pure.
We spin the gorgeous golden liquid straight from the comb; gently filter it through a sieve; let it settle and then jar it up – ready for you.
Our simple, focused and time dedicated approach to extracting honey means that none of the goodness is lost, and this simple process means there is little damage to the bees, comb or honey.
Taste, aroma and health benefits are all encapsulated in one jar – it really is 100% pure honey.
Each jar has a depth of flavor unique to each colony of bees – nothing is added – it’s purely nectar from flowers and plants that the bees find and forage on from surrounding farmland and countryside, meadows and gardens, with a little pollen added for good measure.
100% pure artisan honey.
We have a selection of honeys available most years, including;
*Runny honey
*Set honey
*Chunk honey
*Honeycomb
*Speciality honeys
RIVENDELL BEES HONEY CO
HANDMADE BEESWAX CANDLES
We make all our candles and can therefore guarantee exactly what goes into each one - pure beeswax - no soy, paraffin, palm or vegetable waxes. We don’t even add fragrances or essential oils to our candles, leaving them with a distinctive yet very subtle natural scent. Each batch varies in colour according to which plants the bees have visited. Our candles go from a light, sunny yellow, to a deep golden shade, all adding to their charm, and reflecting the changing seasons. Due to the nature of beeswax, there may be specks of natural matter remaining after the filtering process. Since all our candles are handmade, there may be imperfections or slight differences between candles.
We hope you enjoy your Rivendell Bees Honey Co beeswax candles.
HANDMADE COSMETICS
We make and supply a lovely, natural selection of balms (made with our own pure beeswax), body care and cosmetics, including;
*Beeswax Lip Balms in three flavours
*Beeswax Foot Balm
*Beeswax Hand Balm & Gardener's Hand Balm
*Beeswax Cuticle Balm
*Beeswax Face Balm
*Beeswax Beard Balms in three fragrances
*Beeswax Beard & Moustache Wax in three fragrances
*Soaps
*Skin Serum
*Botanical Bath Soaks
*Dog Paw Balm
*Dog Nose Balm
*Beard Oils
*Shaving Oils
*Botanical Bath Soaks
Check out our cosmetic gift boxes!
Bee - Themed Gifts
We have a wide range of gifts available for all occasions, which can be gift - wrapped and posted
to any UK address.
All of our items can be collected from our Collection Point in Daventry, and are included in our free
local delivery option available at the checkout.
We have a selection of items only available at our Old Dairy Farm Craft Centre shop, so well worth a visit!
Scarves and accessories
Bags, purses, socks, snoods, scarves, badges, jewellry
Kitchen, Home & Garden
Great designs and coordinating ranges
Gift boxes for all occassions
Something for everyone
One of our main aims is to encourage the creation of habitats and forage for our native bees, such as bumblebees, solitary bees and other pollinators and bugs.
Numbers and species have seriously declined over the last 30 - 40 years, and we should all be doing something to help them stabilise and recover.
We not only plant pollinator - friendly plants and trees at all of our apiaries, and help property and landowners to do more, we also try to assist community groups and associations to plant bee gardens, by providing plants and seeds.
We have a special fund to finance this work, and welcome any size of donations that will help in this long - term project.
Just click onto the DONATE button to go to our PayPal page where you can help our voluntary work.
Thank you!
Welcome to the K9 division of Rivendell Bees!
Bruce, Scout, Fern, Woody and Maggie May love coming out to the apiaries, and helping with essential tasks such as digging holes for pollinator plants, then deciding they would be better elsewhere, keeping an eye on the bees, (from a distance!), helping themselves to our packed lunches, lazing about in the sunshine,
- you get the idea!
We produce our own beeswax Dog Paw Balm and Beeswax Nose Balm for our doggy friends, together with a range of herbal dog shampoos.
With March heralding spring, many species of native bees emerge to gorge on early nectar, and start looking for nest sites.
Queen bumblebees, (the only members of last year’s colony to survive the winter), have a good feed before earnestly seeking out their nest sites to begin raising the new generations (including underneath sheds and paving slabs). You should see white – tailed, buff – tailed, early, tree and red – tailed queen bumblebees buzzing around your garden and allotment plot looking for the perfect spot to raise families.
Early risers will also include several solitary bee species, digging their own burrows to begin laying eggs, including the early mining bee, tawny mining bee, and the Ashy mining bee.
In our honey bee hives, the queens will be steadily increasing their egg – laying rates, but this is carefully controlled by the worker bees, as it’s still early in the season for the flying bees to be bringing in much nectar and pollen.
If a colony looks like running out of food, beekeepers will often step in to offer a weak sugar solution until things improve.
As we move into April, hopefully the weather will warm up, and some early blossom will appear, including flowering currant, and crops of oil seed rape.
The odd drone (male) will also start to hatch, and as daylight hours increase, colony expansion can be rapid.
We can help our fuzzy friends by not being too tidy in the garden, or at least leaving an area to go a bit wild, and a corner of the lawn allowed to grow.
Hanging up home – made or purchased bee hotels will provide egg – laying opportunities for some solitary bees, and there is still time to make that wildlife pond!
It’s also important to keep the pesticides away – even those misleadingly advertised as “safe for bees”.
The Buzz About Bees
March - April
"Plant a Metre for Pollinators" Campaign"
We want to encourage as many people as possible to plant a square meter of their garden with 9 or 10 pollinator plants. Even a container or window box will do. Hundreds of islands of flowers across Daventry and the local area will provide feeding stations for many species of our bees. Check out our Facebook & Instagram pages for monthly information and suggestions on pollinator plants, and how to make a simple raised bed.
Pass the word on to your family and friends!
Swarming and Swarm Collection
Swarming is a natural way for honey bees to increase their species.
Although thousands of bees leaving a hive and filling the air can be quite frightening, swarms are generally docile, as they are waiting for scout bees to lead them to their new home.
Whilst we do not collect swarms, there are always volunteer hobby beekeepers who will advise home/property owners on the best course of action, and may be able to safely collect and re-home honey bee swarms.
The easiest way to get help is to visit the British Beekeepers Association website, and click on their swarm page.
An interactive map will help you find your nearest beekeepers, and for you to get in touch with them.
Please check that the bees you are enquiring about are honey bees - there are lots of sites, including the BBKA, that will help you identify the species.
Please remember that beekeepers will only assist with honey bees - not bumblebees, solitary bees or wasps. Where possible, these important pollinators should be allowed to complete their life cycles.
Pop into The Bee Hive to see our range of handmade greetings cards, hand-stamped wrapping papers, and artwork
