Honey Blows our minds

We’ve talked a lot though August about one of our favourite ingredients – honey - from visiting the fascinating Wainwright hives with David Wainwright to Steve creating a micro-batch of 100 ‘Honey & Walnut’ pouches (sold-out in hours!)

We’re buzzing to tell you some news (sorry)

So, it seems very fitting to share some further ‘bee-related’ news. Sustainability for Steve and I isn’t about huge gestures as per an earlier blog, but more about making small, positive choices everyday. In this respect, we’ve been looking for a while for a way to not just celebrate delicious local British ingredients, but to also help nourish and sustain the natural world that provides them.

So…we’re delighted to announce our partnership with Buglife and their initiative ‘B-Lines’ (or even Bee-Lines).

So What are B-Lines?

Imagine trying to travel around the UK without our road and rail network. Or imagine if nine out of every ten miles of road just didn’t exist – life would be impossible. That is the situation faced by our vital pollinators. And that is also where B-Lines come in.

Our bees and butterflies have suffered, over the last century, due to changes in land use as a result of modern farming methods, urban spread and new transport links.

Over 97% (an area the size of Wales) of all flower-rich grasslands have been lost in England since the 1930s, (mirrored in other parts of the UK), reducing pollen and nectar sources and leading to a serious decline in the wildlife depending on wildflower-rich habitat.

B-Lines are an innovative solution to the problem of the loss of flowers and pollinators. They are a series of ‘insect pathways’ running through our countryside and towns, along which Buglife are restoring and creating a series of wildflower-rich habitat stepping stones. They link existing wildlife areas together, creating a network, like a railway, that will weave across the UK landscape. This will provide large areas of brand new habitat benefiting bees and butterflies and a host of other wildlife. Click here for a video explaining more.

In fact there may be a B-Line near you – you can click on the map above to go to the website, then zoom in on the map to find your closest B-Line.

 So, what are R&A doing to help?

Very simply, for every pouch you buy, we will work with Buglife to plant wild flowers – in fact we will plant the equivalent of almost twice the pack’s footprint worth of meadow.

So, to take our no1 selling pack ‘The Golden Monty’ with three pouches – for every 9 we sell, we will be planting 1m² of meadow.

What else can you do to help Bees?

There’s tons of helpful advice on the B-Lines website, for instance on what you can do to help Buglife in your garden, and specifically what to plant to help bumblebees and help with local initiatives and B-Lines in your area.

If you’re really keen, you can even become a member of Buglife from only £3 per month.

And finally

This is just the beginning; we’ll be working with Buglife to understand the positive impact our business is making to B-Lines and also finding ways to further help and publicise this great cause to sustain our beautiful countryside and wildlife.

Of course, we’ll also be making lots of yummy fresh chocolates, lookout for new flavours coming this Autumn…