Gifts from the Hive
We are delighted to offer you gifts from our hives at the Wildacres apiary. Our honey is produced in a sustainable manner with hive numbers limited to ensure there is enough forage for the many other vitally important pollinators such as solitary bees, bumblebees, hoverflies, butterflies and more. Read about our honey varieties below.
By purchasing from Wildacres you are supporting an Environment Social Enterprise dedicated to biodiversity restoration and education. All proceeds from the sale of our delicious Raw Honey, Hive Gifts, Greeting Cards, Calendars, Tours, Walks, Workshops and Courses and all others offerings, go directly towards the Wildacres Nature Reserve Project and the conservation of Irish biodiversity.
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Heather and Wildflower Honey and Beeswax Candle Gift Set
€65.00 Add to basket -
Ivy and Wildflower Honey and Beeswax Candle Gift Set
Select options -
Wildflower Honey Trio Gift Set
€45.00 Add to basket -
Heather Honey Duo Gift Set
€60.00 Add to basket -
Wildacres Limited Edition 2023 Wall Calendar
€14.00 Add to basket
Wildacres Honey Varieties
About Wildacres Wildflower Honey
This single origin multi-floral Summer Honey is produced by our hives of Native Irish Dark Honeybees.
The honey is coarse cold filtered to preserve all the healthy antioxidants, proteins and enzymes. Not to mention the traces of Pollen and highly antibacterial Propolis it contains.
The honey varies in subtly of flavour depending on the time of the season as the sources of nectar and pollen change, from Dandelion to Hawthorn, and on to Clover and Blackberry and much more adding to the ever-changing complexity of the floral flavours.
Our honey is sustainably at Wildacres where the bees have 17.5 acres of Nature Reserve to forage on with over 10,000 native trees and shrubs, kilometres of native hedgerow and a 4-acre wildflower meadow.
Sustainability and environmental protection and enhancement is at the core of all our activities
About Wildacres Heather Honey
This much sought-after unique mono-floral honey is produced by our bees when we bring hives to the Wicklow Mountains heather moors in Autumn for the month of August. Here they forage predominantly on our native Ling heather Calluna vulgaris which carpets these hills.
This honey has gained much media interest since Dr Saorla Kavanagh published her Heather properties research results. ‘Irish Heather Honey has antioxidant properties which are comparable to New Zealand’s famed, and more expensive, Manuka Honey’. RTE News 3rd September 2018. This gained much media interest for a short period that has since wained leaving Irish heather honey a still as yet undiscovered and underappreciated Health Food produced locally with minimal food miles attached.
It has a unique flavour with almost a smoky mild bittersweet taste and is considered by some honey connoisseurs, to be the finest tasting of all honey types produced.
About Wildacres Ivy Honey
Native Ivy Helix hedera is a Gold Star plant for pollinators and a vital plant for much of our other wildlife.
Our busy bees make a delicious and unique tasting honey from this wonderful climber which flowers in the Autumn, mostly during October and November. The nondescript small yellowish green flowers have a heady aroma and the honey produced from their nectar, has a strong and unique intense floral flavour all of its own, and much beloved by many.
The nectar collected by the bees from Ivy crystalises literally within hours of being brought in the hive and stored away. It is labour intensive but rewarding to extract the honey and means cutting the wax comb out to do so.
During the honey harvest we extract the ivy honey and cream it before bottling, giving it a smooth velvety texture.
