29/09/2026
Hanover Healthfoods went on a wee pilgrimage at the weekend, to track down the famous Robson family of Chainbridge Honey Farm. After walking through Berwickshire country lanes filled with autumnal bounty and mellow fruitfulness, I eventually stumbled on (probably) the OG of British beekeeping, W***y Robson, and supplier to us since the Second World War.
Fortified with a truly epic cream tea from the Cafe Bus (thick rich raspberry jam and sweetened cream, washed down with a honeyed iced latte) I spotted W***y fresh back from getting his daily paper.
First thing he says after hearing ‘Hanover Healthfoods’ was ‘difficult to deliver to’. W***y then recalls the first time he remembers delivering to us, back in (wait for it) 1952. Delivering with his father he remembers that the standing order from the shop was ‘as much as you can supply’ which at the time was literal tons of honey. Hard to believe from our little shop but those were the times. He remembers being harassed by a burly policeman for parking in the tram stop outside the store. Yes, that was a tram stop decades before it was a bus stop.
Although it is now Heather Robson who delivers to the store it is truly a privilege to maintain a relationship with a supplier that goes back, what three generations, at least 80 years, Chainbridge honey is not only delicious and unostentatiously artisanal, it is also honest and supplied at a fair price.
If you get the chance to visit the Chainbridge Honey Farm (off the A1/A698) please do. The Cafe Bus and the Visitor Centre is truly interesting. And it actually smells of honey - go figure!
