Raw New Forest Wildflower Honey - Polly's Meadow, Lepe, 250g ^Sale

Polly's Meadow sits in the stretch of quiet farmland between the Exbury Estate and the shore at Lepe, looking out across the Solent. It's a wildflower meadow in the proper sense - not a set-aside strip, but open meadow that's managed to stay that way, with the surrounding countryside adding to what the bees can reach.

Single origin honey

Most British honey is pooled. A season's harvest from dozens of sites goes into one tank, gets blended to a consistent flavour and sold as one product. We do the opposite. Every apiary is harvested, extracted and jarred separately, and the label tells you exactly which one you're holding.

It's more work and it means we can never promise two batches taste identical. That's the point. The variation between our sites is remarkable, and blending it away would throw out the only thing that makes local honey worth buying.

Raw New Forest Honey

Nothing is done to this honey between the hive and the jar except coarse straining to take out bits of wax. It is never heated, never pasteurised, never fine-filtered, never blended with anything. No additives, no syrups, nothing.

That matters because heat and fine filtration strip out the pollen, enzymes and aromatic compounds that give honey its character and its traceability. Honey with the pollen removed can't be traced back to where it was made. Ours can - down to a single meadow near Lepe.

Awards

Our single-origin New Forest honey has won multiple Great Taste awards, including a three-star award in 2023 - the only British honey producer to receive one that year. We're also a certified New Forest Marque producer, which means everything is grown, produced and packed within the New Forest.

The details

• 250g glass jar
• Raw, unpasteurised, coarsely strained only
• Single origin: Polly's Meadow, Lepe, Exbury Estate, New Forest
  
• Beekeepers: Simon Noble and Chloe Harvey
  
• Ingredients: honey. Nothing else.

Looking after it

Raw honey crystallises over time. It's a sign the honey hasn't been processed, not a fault - in fact it's one of the easiest ways to tell raw honey from the pasteurised stuff, which is treated specifically to stop it happening. Stand the jar in warm water below 40°C and it will turn runny again. Store at room temperature, out of direct sunlight.