A bee-rilliant day was had at Wainwright’s first Summer Honey Festival, celebrating their 35th anniversary in style at their site in Talybont.

There was great support from the community with around 2,000 guests attending the free event on Sunday, 17 August.

The atmosphere was electric and Wainwright’s are grateful to everyone who attended and those who helped on the day.

Wainwright’s Bee Farm brought the first certified organic honey in the world to market, which was also one of the first registered Fairtrade honeys of the world. Working with traditional forest beekeepers from Zambia, Wainwright’s has provided a stable market for thousands of beekeepers and their families for over 40 years - preserving traditional sustainable forest livelihoods and supporting the health of the forest. This is conservation honey. Their trade has sent millions of pounds back to the Miombo forest beekeepers in Zambia. Today, Wainwright’s are one of the biggest bee farms and honey producers in the UK specialising in terroir honeys from different botanical sources and supplying honey to M&S, and other high-end retailers like Waitrose & Fortnum & Mason.

A buzz was in the air at the Summer Honey Festival, with live music from five different local acts including The Smokin’ Guns, The Klezmonauts and The Twmpath Band – and even traditional Twmpath dancing by the crowd! A highlight of the day was the wonderfully entertaining Waggle Dance by Borth Organically Outrageous Bees dance group.

A series of talks and a honey tasting workshop were held in The Honey Shed featuring interviews by Aled Jones, Gareth Ward, Gwenyn Gruffydd, Talybont dairy farmer Jâms Morgan, and beekeeper and company director David Wainwright, to name a few. The panel discussed ‘Why are bees thriving?’ putting this down to all the positive farming practises implemented by farmers such as responsible use of better pesticides. Jâms Morgan led a farm tour visiting his happy dairy herd on his historic farm, Maesnewydd, nearby.

Singer Aled Jones launched his new honey brand, Praise Bee, a collaboration with Wainwright’s Bee Farm – ‘Praise Bee Welsh Hawthorn Honey’ at the festival.

Local food heroes like Carys’s Angolino, Syrian Dinner Project, Llaeth Jenkins Milk, Ultracomida and Ynyshir Restaurant joined the bee-party serving their delicious treats to the hungry crowds. A wonderfully attended farmers’ market offered guests locally-grown cut flowers from Angle Walled Garden, Treetop Blooms and Peach & Peony, gut-friendly ferments by The Fat Earth, Pembrokeshire Chilli Farm’s range of sauces, Bwyd Dyfi Hub, Penygader Pizza, and of course plenty of local honey from Wainwright’s Bee Farm, Aberystwyth Beekeepers’ Association, Trees and Bees, Border Honey and Penybryn Apiaries. An observation beehive and candle rolling workshops were great educational pieces for the children.

The children’s area was a roaring success with a cornucopia of bee arts and crafts on offer, face-painting, temporary tattoos, life size farm animals, and talks by Wainwright’s beekeeper Hazel Coulson.

Wainwright’s Bee Farm would like to say a big thank you to Aberystwyth Town Council for lending the market stall equipment and so helping make the Honey Festival farmers’ market possible.