First jars of honey from 185-year-old Doncaster garden fly off the shelves

And just a few months later the fruits of their labour have flown off the shelves, as sweet-toothed folk made a bee-line for Balby’s Woodfield Park.

They were snapping up 12-ounce jars of the first batch of delicious honey produced by Community Interest Company, Flourish - with more than a little help from the 100,000 busy bees who have made their home in two hives in the Park’s historic Walled Garden.

Flourish gardener Ben Gannon said: “Our first harvest produced 84 jars which sold out within four days. We are expanding to six hives in Spring, which should generate even more honey.

“We sourced the bees, which are specially bred to be less aggressive, from York-based supplier Abelo and they have quickly made Doncaster home, collecting nectar from up to three miles away.

"Bees have a life span of about 40 to 50 days and so the queen constantly lays eggs to keep the hive productive.”

Ben and colleague Liz Jackson – both trained beekeepers - gathered the honeycomb frames from the hives and after a process of centrifugal separation in Café Flourish’s kitchen, tapped the pure honey into jars.

Flourish, a wholly owned subsidiary of Rotherham Doncaster and South Humber NHS Foundation Trust, started the honey farming enterprise after winning a Doncaster Chamber of Commerce award, which paid for hives and beekeeping equipment.

The Walled Garden, off Balby’s Tickhill Road, is open to the public and sells a range of indoor and outdoor plants.