Our Beekeepers
Beekeeping is woven into the colonial heritage of our country. We work with passionate beekeepers; it is their dedication and expertise at tending to the bees with care and selecting the best locations to keep their hives that creates such a special and unique product.
Steven
Springbank Honey is a family run company that Steven founded 22 years ago. Steven supplies New Zealand with a range of high quality pure New Zealand Honey. Springbank Honey’s team of beekeepers, headed up by Steven, are passionate about producing a consistently high grade of Honey. Steven’s focus as a family run business, is to be not only committed to training the next generation of beekeepers, but also to promote good bee health in hives and to produce high quality Honey that is a pleasure to consume. Steven produces Beechwood Honeydew, Manuka, Clover, and Bush Honey from its hives on the beautiful and sometimes challenging terrain of North Canterbury bush.
Bruce
Bruce has always been fascinated by bees. Beekeeping for over 30 years, he still finds it exciting and challenging. For many years his focus was Beechwood Honeydew Honey but a move to the West Coast of the South Island means he also specialises in Kamahi and Rata honey
Gary
Started by his grand father Ralph who left a blacksmith job at the mine in 1924.
Gary currently manages the beehives with some help from his partner Sue, their son Samuel, his father John and their two full time employees.
They currently run around a thousand beehives for honey production in the Grey and Taramakau valleys and in between.
Rod
Rod’s longtime hobby caring for his bees in the backyard, gradually turned into a small beekeeping business. Rod now has hives around Leeston and creates specialty honeys such as Lavender and Blackcurrant.
Lucy and AJ
Lucy's family have owned Muzzle Station for nearly three decades and have been collecting honey from beehives on the land for the past 20 years. Lucy and AJ are the next generation of beekeepers.
Lucy grew up on Muzzle Station and is familiar with its extreme isolation and challenging terrain, (the Station is only accessible by four wheel drive for a short time over the summer months – the rest of the time a helicopter is the only option!). Lucy and AJ specialise in the harvesting of Vipers Bugloss and Manuka Honey.
Derek
Derek's family have been involved in beekeeping for the past 100 years. Derek himself has been a professional beekeeper for 40 years and cannot imagine doing anything else!
His hives are situated in the Canterbury and West Coast region of the South Island.
Shayne
Shayne grew up in the beautiful Coromandel Peninsula and has worked with bees from a very young age, keeping his own hives as a child then working as a hive manager for a number of years. Shayne and Andrea now run their own hives and focus on producing exceptional quality Pohutukawa Honey.
The couple are passionate & committed to organic beekeeping. Their hives are located in some of the most remote and beautiful parts of the Coromandel Peninsula.
Lorraine
In 1975 Lorraine started beekeeping with just a few hives. Her main occupation at the time was sheep shearing and beekeeping provided her with extra income, as time went on her interest in beekeeping grew and she now has around 600 hives, all located within a 30km radius of Oxford in North Canterbury. The Oxford area is surrounded by ancient beech forests and Lorraine has focused on harvesting premium pure Beechwood Honeydew Honey!
Walter
Honey is in the blood of Central Otago beekeeper, Walter – he comes from a long line of apiarists. Beekeeping has been an integral part of Walters family since the turn of the century when they kept hives to pollinate local raspberry crops.
Walter collects two very distinct styles of New Zealand honey – White Clover and Wild Thyme honey. Because of the extreme environment in Central Otago the honey harvest can vary greatly depending on what the weather has in store – Walter keeps a very close eye on his hives and ensures they are placed in the optimum location from year to year in order to harvest exceptional honey!