With the summer upon us, it is a busy time at Rhug!
We are located very close to Snowdonia and as such can be the last stop for adventure seekers and holiday makers looking to stock up on last minute provisions or provide a welcome stop for weary travellers: with a fully stocked farm shop, offering fresh produce, larder items and gifts, to refuelling in the form of caffeine, lunch and electric charging stations, we have something for everyone.
The countryside at Rhug is alive with nature now and with the mixed weather we have been enjoying of late, means that the forage is growing apace, however it there have been spells of very hot dry weather which has meant that some of the flowers have been delayed and some have appeared briefly, only to disappear as quickly – Herb Robert didn’t last long, and Clover flowers have been relatively short lived too. That said, it has been a great year for gooseberries so far and we have seen quite a few raspberries in the hedgerows and some lovely early strawberries.
The bees are busier than ever and they need to be! Our Rhug honey, which in part goes into our Wild Beauty skincare but is just as delicious on toast, always sells out year on year. We have added an extra 20 hives to keep up with demand as organic farms like ours are home to 75% more bees than regular farms due to the fact we use less pesticides and encourage the growth of hedgerows and wild plants.
We caught up with Barry, our resident beekeeper on the estate. He has been busy moving hives up onto the nearby hills ready to make the most of the heather which will be flowering in the next few weeks. He says, “we like to move some of the hives at this time of year to give the bees some variety as we move into the high summer and autumn months, the heather flowers until mid-September which will help make additional honey and beeswax!” He is moving 12 hives in 2 separate journeys and needs to do it very early in the morning whilst the bees are sleeping in the hive to avoid too much disruption. With the extremely hot weather we have been experiencing, Barry has had to choose the new site carefully to ensure that there is a water source nearby that the bees can access as they will need this to cool the hive. see our post on bees to see how you can help the bees HERE.
Other new arrivals on the estate are settling into their new home, with our bison calves and the new fawns in the deer herd growing day by day. The sheep have all been sheared now and are looking much happier without the extra layers of wool! Did you know that we use excess wool from our flocks to pack our Wild Beauty products? We love seeing how everyone uses it back at home! Check out our Instagram for inspiration.
We are hard at work developing some new additions to our Wild Beauty range and we hope to be able to share some new product news with you soon!
Until then, enjoy the summer!
