De Valksche Bijenhof

De Valksche Bijenhof is a professional apiary at Harskamperweg 1 in Kootwijkerbroek, on the edge of the Veluwe, where two beekeepers keep 400 to 600 colonies of Buckfast bees and sell the honey from a shop at the apiary and through their webshop HONINGonline.nl.

The hives do not stay in one place: over the season they are moved between the Veluwe, where the bees work heather and lime, the Betuwe, where they pollinate fruit blossom, and the Biesbosch, where they fly on willow, bramble and clover, and each area gives its own honey. According to their website every hive is still checked by the beekeeper himself, and the honey is cold-extracted, only coarsely filtered, never heated above 40°C and sold without additives, so it is raw. Not everything in the shop is their own: it also sells bought-in honeys from elsewhere in Europe and beyond, so only the Dutch honey is from these hives.

The shop at the apiary is open Tuesday to Friday from 9:00 to 17:30 and Saturdays from 9:00 to 17:00; the webshop ships nationwide.

The bees are Buckfast, a strain bred in England by Brother Adam and selected for gentleness, and their website says the hives are moved only in the early morning or late evening, when the bees are calm, and honey is taken only from colonies that are healthy and strong.