The owner of Colsterworth Honey Farm, near Grantham, has discussed his passion for beekeeping and how the last year has been for the farm

The owner of Colsterworth Honey Farm says the past year has been his best year yet, both for sales and production.

Bob Halsey, 62, inherited a passion for beekeeping from his father, who began keeping bees after the Second World War.

In 2002, he decided to develop the business commercially, fulfilling a lifelong ambition. Now, with a purpose-built honey room added to Colsterworth Honey Farm, based on Bridge End, production is more efficient than ever following a strong year.

Helped by wife Nina and his son James, Bob also hires out his bees for pollination services in the likes of Kent and Cambridgeshire.

Bob said: “My dad died when I was 11, I’ve got two older siblings. The next one above me, Richard, used to do the bees.

“I used to go around and help my dad. I’ve been doing it for as long as I can remember. I wasn’t physically big enough then to do a lot of it because it’s heavy work.

“I’ve been doing it literally all my life. Ever since I was a kid, I always wanted to make a living out of keeping bees. Apart from being an astronaut, I always wanted to be a beekeeper.

“I did my engineering apprenticeship at Barfords, then I worked abroad for a few years in my early 20s. Then when I came back I got a job back here in the same line.

“I had these normal jobs but I kept a lot of bees whilst I was doing the other jobs, but it got too much. I was limited on how many hives I could have and the job took me all over the country and abroad. I was always going here, there and everywhere.

“Basically, I was offered redundancy in 2002 and I took it and jumped both feet first [into commercial beekeeping].”

When asked if it was a good decision, Bob said: “Yes, but it’s not been easy. It wasn’t easy to get money in the early years because I wasn’t earning superstar wages and having four children at home took a lot of my money. It’s not been easy, but hopefully now we are in a much better position than we were.”

The honey farm was based in Corby Glen until 1986, when it moved to Colsterworth.

When asked what he enjoys most about beekeeping, Bob said: “It’s just my passion. What can be better than being out in the countryside with Test Match Special on the radio, while you’re out doing the bees?

“Yeah, sometimes they can get tetchy. This time of year they’re absolutely fine, but when the nectar sources are not out there, that’s when they start getting tetchy, because they get more protective.”

The pandemic has impacted businesses across all sectors over the past year, but Bob explained why the last 12 months had been one of the best for Colsterworth Honey Farm.

He said: “Last year was the best year we’ve ever had, in terms of sales and production. Nothing changed for us. We just carried on as normal.

“Everybody was setting farm shops up. People weren’t going to the supermarket to buy things, they were going to the little village shop or local.

“It was just a good year yield-wise as well. It was the best year we’d ever done.

“It’s all dependent on the crops and the weather being right at the right time.”

Although it is impossible to count every single bee that works at the honey farm, Bob estimates the total figure to be over 16 million.

He said: “We’re running about 330 hives at the minute and typically you want 50,000 bees in a hive really. There’s a lot of noughts at the end. I’m the biggest employer round here! And they work for nothing, it’s fantastic.

“Every time I see a bee fly back to the hive, I think ‘that’s bringing me back money’.”

The bees sometimes take a trip down south, when Bob rents their services out to cherry orchards in Kent or, most recently, to pollinate parsnips in the Cambridgeshire area.

He plans to hold an open day later this year, should Covid-19 restrictions allow, where members of the public can see more about the honey-making process.

To find out more, visit: www.colsterworthhoney.co.uk or search for Colsterworth Honey Farm on Facebook.