Honey is a hit at festival

Honey produced at Weston was among food on sale at a weekend car and music festival hosted by DJ Chris Evans and attended by 15,000 people.

Ladywood Apiaries was one of 50 small businesses chosen for CarFest at Laverstoke Farm Park, Hampshire, on an estate owned by former F1 World Champion Jody Scheckter.

The event, devised by the Radio 2 breakfast presenter and his team, raised money for BBC Children In Need.

Musically it was headlined by the bands Texas and The Feeling, and featured food and cars, including Ferraris owned by Evans, plus family-based entertainment.

The owner of Ladywood Apiaries, Mr David Chase, who has 50 hives on his arable farm at Weston, attended CarFest with his wife, Judith, and friends Tim and Nicki Webster.

Mrs Webster helps Mr Chase to care for the bees and harvest the honey.

Mr Webster said: “We were in the Britain’s Best Pavilion, alongside 50 small food manufacturers selling home-made produce like wines, cheese, chocolate and preserves.

“We were delighted to be one of the 50 selected from 2,000 applicants. It was a fantastic experience and we sold hundreds of jars of honey.

“Chris Evans was great, a really nice chap who spent time with us, tasted our honey and was interested in hearing about what we did.”

They took along five varieties — pure honey, raw honey, lime and sweet honey, soft set honey and bean and chestnut honey — together with honeycomb, and said they sold hundreds of jars, converting people who previously believed they disliked honey.

“All of the different flavours pricked people’s interest and people were interested in trying what we had brought,” Mr Webster said.

“The raw honey was particularly popular as it has had virtually nothing done to it.

“The enthusiasm and interest was fantastic.

“So many people said they didn’t like honey and it was amazing to see how that perception changed once they tried it.”

Mr Chase has previously exhibited at Newark and Nottinghamshire County Show and Moorgreen Show, alongside the Nottinghamshire Bee-keeping Society.

He began bee-keeping seven or eight years ago after talking to a builder who was a member of the society.

“I thought that I ought to give it a go,” Mr Chase said.

“I started with one or two hives and kept adding to them. A hobby that brings in a bit of money is probably how to describe it best.”

The Webster family have ten hives at their home at Weston, where daughters Lucy, 10, and Betsy, 8, have their own bee-keeping suits and help out.

Mr Webster said: “It’s a fascinating hobby.”

CarFest in Hampshire, and a similar event, CarFest North, taking place in Cheshire this weekend, are expected to raise at least £750,000 for Children In Need.