Mayflower Apiaries

Mayflower Apiaries is a small beekeeping business based in Bewsey, Warrington, operated by Ed Peirson. The business runs over 400 honeybee colonies spread across more than 50 apiaries throughout North Cheshire. With no single apiary containing more than 20 hives, the approach ensures sufficient local forage for the bees and keeps movement to a minimum. The bees forage up to three miles, covering many square miles of Cheshire countryside and pollinating billions of flowers in the process. The main nectar sources in the area include fruit blossom, dandelion, sycamore, oil seed rape, field beans, clover, lime, willowherb, and balsam, meaning the honey is typically a rich mixture that varies from year to year and from apiary to apiary. Colonies are not sugar fed and are usually overwintered on their own honey, with fondant only provided in early spring if stores are low. Beeswax cappings removed during the honey harvest are melted down and used to produce beeswax candles and other wax products, ensuring nothing goes to waste. Mayflower Apiaries prides itself on a low-intensity, bee-friendly approach to beekeeping.