A Sweet Tale to Tell

Welcome to Hillhouse Honeybees – a small, family-run business, buzzing away in the heart of Glasgow and Lanarkshire, proudly producing Pure Raw Local Scottish Blossom Honey since 2015.

The name Hillhouse Honeybees is a tribute to Jane Hillhouse (the mother of our founder) and the encouragement and support provided by her.

Our honey comes straight from our own bees, who forage freely across various industrial and brown field sites around Glasgow and several large farms in North and South Lanarkshire. We’re passionate about keeping things natural which is why we pride ourselves not only on the quality and taste of the honey, but also the healthy and chemical free life led by our Honeybees.

We put bee welfare first - our policy is minimal intervention, creating a natural and authentic habitat for our bees with limited alterations to allow us to observe and maintain the colonies, only disturbing the upper boxes where the honey is stored.

In fact, if the bees need their honey more than we do – then they keep it. Our approach is all about working with the bees, not just taking from them.

Staying clear of the queens brood (breeding) boxes to reduce stress and risk of damage.  In autumn, we feed our bees a winter tonic made from seaweed extract, malt, soy flour, apple cider vinegar, and a blend of essential oils and wildflower extracts. This greatly enhances their health and strength, better equipping them to cope with pests and mites.

We believe you should know exactly what’s in your jar and that’s why we are proud to be able to call ourselves ‘treatment-free’ beekeepers, which means we don’t use nasty chemicals in our hives. Our opinion is that these toxins inevitably find their way into the honey and other hive products such as wax. Instead, we’ve carefully bred a hardy line of bees.

That’s right! – Our bees are a mix of Danish Buckfast and local Scottish and Newcastle bees. These breeds are naturally more resistant to mites and other issues. They are bred for high levels of resistance and overall health with ‘hygienic’ traits. The focus is on long-term health, strength, and sustainability.

We’ve been supplying honey locally on a small scale for years, but recently, due to popular demand, the business has undergone considerable expansion – growing hive by hive. Now, we’re excited to reach more people – all thanks to our hardworking bees!

And it’s not just regular honey anymore! Thanks to requests from our loyal customers, we’ve launched a new range of ‘Infused Honey’. We have always only sold ‘Raw’ honey and continue this practice with our infusions. There’s no short cuts here, only freeze-dried ingredients are used, no heating the honey

The infusion process, which largely relies on raw honey and its natural enzymes to break down the infused spices or flavours, can take up to two months to complete. However, the results are well worth the wait.

Whether you’re here for the sweet taste, the buzz-worthy health benefits, or just to support some very hardworking bees, we’re bee-yond happy you stopped by and so glad you've taken the time to read our story.

We hope you find something in the shop that appeals to you. If you’d like any more information, please reach out via the contact form.