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The Barefoot Beeman

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The Barefoot Beeman

Normal for Norfolk beekeeper and passionate swarm rescuer. If it’s any thing bee, think Barefoot 🦶🐝

21/10/2026

Today is national honey day... 🍯

Today we celebrate all those local beekeepers and their honey bees working their hardest to creat something truly special...

Hours of work and devotion from both the girls 🐝 and their keepers go into every jar we sell.

Long hours of preparation and work go into the products that we sell and create.. working hand in wing with the bees to keep the planet well pollinated and the honey on your table tasty.. 🤤

'Know your beekeeper, know your honey'

(Here's just a few snap shots from the summer ☀️ now behind us representing many of the stories from this year, now onto jarring honey and preparing for next year)

Thank you all for following the barefoot journey

🦶 🐝

08/10/2026

A swarm of bees in may
Is worth a load of hay;
A swarm of bees in June
Is worth a silver spoon;
A swarm of bees in July
Is not worth a fly....

But a swarm of bees in October;
Is worth a .............. 🤔

(Old rover 🚙)
(Field of clover ☘️)
(Sr Nova)
(Over exposure ❄️)
(Unsober disrober 🥃 👖)

Well swarm no34. Appeared this afternoon at the most unexpected and unusual time of year. To think the last swarm was nearly 2 months ago.

This swarm the Roydon swarm, appeared in the exact same plum tree the two previous swarms have appeared in this summer. So out with the nuc box 📦 (filled with pulled out frames and honey) and into the box they happily went. It's very unusual for a swarm at this time of year, it's possibly from an absconding (the entire colony of honey bees completely abandons its hive or nest due to unliveable or unsafe conditions) as it's a little late to be superseding (the natural replacement of the existing queen by her daughter within the same hive).

At this time of year in nature this swarm would have absolutely no chance of survival, due to temperatures and total lack of forage for them to built up stores for winter with. Luckily in the hands of skilful beekeepers we can feed them really hard and give them the best chance of survival....

🦶 🐝

03/10/2026

With the day getting shorter and the nights getting colder now is the perfect time to stock up on some local sunshine in a jar... ☀️ 🍯

One of natures greatest gifts and powerful superfoods, treasured for thousands of years for its unique blend of rich flavour, nutrition and healing properties...

Foraged by our hard working girls 🐝 from the fields, woods and hedgerows of South Norfolk a true local delicacy...

We currently has a limited supply of assorted types of cut honey comb (in bio degradable vegware tubs to help the planet 🌍)

We also currently have freshly in stock and ready to bee enjoyed:

Runny Sweet clover ( lovely summer flavours with the added hint of cinnamon and ginger, rather like fresh out the oven gingerbread)

Runny golden summer mix ( a mixture of the early summer flavours, hints of thyme, bramble, lime and wild flower. A bolder golden honey)

Runny light summer mix ( a mixture of phacelia and clover. A more subtle sweet honey, with milder tones)

Runny buckwheat mix ( a mixture of phacelia and buckwheat. A lovely light honey with some caramel, molasses back tones)

All the mixtures of these honeys are created by the bee's. So as the seasons and months change during the year the forage and honey changes with them, honey truly as nature intended it ...

🦶 🐝

01/10/2026

Now available the quintessential taste of South Norfolk summertime..

Calling all honey comb enthusiasts, we now have our stock of incredible fresh South Norfolk honeycomb !! 🤤

Served up in vegware containers ( bio degradable, plant based bioplastic derived from renewable corn sugar. Saving the planet one step at a time 🌍)

We have phacelia honey comb in £10-30 chunks
( a lovely floral, mild comb with some citrus back notes)

The extra special in limited stock. Sweet clover honey comb in £15- 30 chunks..
(The taste of freshly made gingerbread, cinnamon and ginger tones)

And the Crown Jewel of the honey comb an extra extra special and very limited chamomile honey comb.. in £15 chunks
(The strong and unique chamomile flavour in honey comb form, this is something truly special)

If you'd like to order some of this ethical, incredibly tasty honey comb from our chemical free colony's based within a 4-5 mile range of Diss please feel free to get in contact !!!

'A true taste of south Norfolk summer'

🦶 🐝

27/09/2026

Starting off a Sunday morning in the right way.... another colony rescued and relocated...... 🐝
Enjoy your weekend 😊

21/09/2026

The ivy flowers are in full flow currently. This was 6pm with the sunshine and warmth still on half of this apiary. We leave all the ivy honey as the winter food supplies for the colony's. We're now nearing the final inspections and making sure everyone is ready and prepared for the winter ahead..

On average we leave 20kg of their own honey on each colony for their winter supplies, the larger colony's will have 40kg of honey left for their stores.. (we rarely feed human produced sugars to our bees unless totally necessary)

This lovely unseasonal warmth and sunshine is a lovely gift to the girls giving them the ability to work hard and make sure their homes are ship shape and their larders are full...

Tom and I are currently packaging up some incredible fresh honey comb (the quintessential taste of summer) and jarring up some very tasty and special types of honey currently. These will both be available very shortly.... 🐝 🍯

04/09/2026

A rotten tree with a colony of bees living within had stopped work on site (a historical site being prepared for archaeologists and then the general public to be able to enjoy). Due to the danger of the trees and the colony, it was a moment that a live removal has to take place for safety.

The tree had a void of some 14-16 plus foot inside it and a colony of honey bees in residence. With the help of some great tree surgeons ( in bee suits we provided) we managed to cut the tree down and open up the void to start the removal... (this colony was incredibly calm and gentle)

Well first sheet of brood in we located the queen, and managed to get her secured and into the nuc box.. then after several hours of gently removing the comb sheet by sheet and hoovering up the workers we managed to rebuild the colony into the nuc box.

In the coming days we will manage and re feed the colony to build its strength up for the coming winter. They have the numbers and stores that will allow them to thrive again..

(We would normally suggest leaving trees with colonies of bees alone, but in certain circumstances due to health and safety of workers and dangers of rotten trees, it can be a necessity. Saving the bees is what it's all about)

🦶 🐝

19/08/2026

Natures greatest weather girls.. They know when the weathers about to change, when the rains due or if there's storms ahead and all of a sudden they become rather 'spicey' and even the calmest colony can become rather upset quickly if not left well alone. Well at the end of the video you can see/hear the warning I was given to keep well away.. (I got back to the truck quickly after the warning)
After 9-10mm of rain last night (the most rain we have seen here for 3plus months) the phacelia fields have increased there nectar production 10fold and all of a sudden we're back into incredible honey flow..

16/08/2026

No.33 the 'Blo Norton' swarm.

Late last night I got a message from a lovely lady in Blo Norton. She had put a gazebo up in her garden a few hours later these girls decided it was the perfect spot to stop.

So this morning at 8am before the sun started to appear and the temperatures were still lower, we made our way to offer them a new home and move them off site.

It's been 6 weeks since our last swarm, this we feel is due to the dry weather and the lack of nectar meaning established colony's haven't become packed with honey as they normally would over the summer.

We think at this time of year this swarm has probably been created due to confusion during supersedure ( the natural process, where the a colony of bees will replace a failing queen due to her decline in pheromones, failing health or poor brood patterns. This is the production of a new daughter queen from the hive to replace her without the hive becoming queenless)
Or due to absconding due to trauma or problems within the hive..

They are out sat on own their own to prove there is no health problems before being moved to another apiary..... 🐝

09/08/2026

Today in the heat we donned our suits and made a start on the phacelia honey harvest..

We harvest our honey in an inefficient slow personal hands on manor, it takes more time and effort but it allows us to be fully hands on with the colony's.

During this time we get the chance to pay attention to the colony numbers, temperaments, efficiency's and productiveness. It also allows us to may full attention to exactly what types of honey they have been bringing in during the nectar flows... (these are all aspects that during industrial honey production that can go unnoticed)

It allows us to have the full knowledge of exactly what types and flavours of honey we are selling to our great Barefoot honey purchasers..

When going through the hives we sometimes find things that we consider exceptional, today it was a super of honey that someone 🙄 accidentally put less frames in, which inturn meant some incredibly heavy frames on honey.... (this frame is going to be hard to beat)

Notice the soft brush in hand, this helps to minimise any damage or upset to the bees..
And luckily our colony's are very peaceful and calm allowing us to work them without the need for a smoker (with the current drought, this helps with fire safety also)

Healthy happy colonies produce healthy happy honey... 🍯

Address

Diss
IP21

Telephone

+447890973944

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