We’re absolutely buzzing about our latest corporate social responsibility and sustainability scheme, in which we’ve partnered with a fellow Carmarthenshire company to adopt a beehive.
Gwenyn Gruffydd is a family business based in Dryslwyn that makes 100% pure, minimally filtered, unpasteurised (raw) Welsh honey. Their honey farm is one of only 400 in the UK.
Founded in 2010 by husband-and-wife team Gruffydd and Angharad, what started out as just a single hive in Gruff’s parents’ garden has since turned into almost 200 beehives dotted across South Wales.
Their award-winning honey earned top prize at the Food and Drink West Wales Business Awards in 2020, won two stars in the Great Taste Awards in 2017 and 2018, and one star in 2020 and again in 2021.
The primary and most popular type they produce is Welsh wildflower honey, but during certain times of year and depending on crop Gwenyn Gruffydd also produces Welsh heather honey, autumn ivy honey, cut comb honey and other specialty single-origin honeys.
While Angharad refines down the beeswax to create candles, food wraps, and other sustainable artisan gifts, Gruff offers beekeeping training at the farm during the summer alongside talks and presentations in both Welsh and English throughout the year.
The company also sells beekeeping supplies, bee-friendly wildflower seeds, and peat free compost.
Bees have been around since the time of the dinosaurs, yet we’re suffering from a significant decline in pollinators due to habitat loss, land use, climate change, pests, diseases, plus the presence of pesticides and pollutants.
By adopting a beehive, we’ve joined forces with organisations such as Cardiff Airport, CK Foodstores, Iceland, Principality Building Society, and S4C to help protect native Welsh honeybees and reverse that decline.
The Adopt a Beehive scheme was the first of its kind in Wales and is open to all businesses, charities, schools, and families, with three packages available.
Each hive typically holds up to 70,000 bees (shrinking to 20,000 in winter). The Queen lays 2,000 eggs per day and lives for up to four years.
Honeybees fly up to three miles away from their hive to gather nectar and pollen, with the flowers they pollinate determining the colour and taste of the honey they produce. Cumulatively, they travel the equivalent of three times around the Earth to create just one jar.
Honey has proven antibacterial and medicinal properties and research has shown that some Welsh honey can fight off superbugs such as MRSA.
You can read all about our company values here, or discover more ways in which we’re trying to have a positive impact upon the environment and the communities we serve here.
