This delicious honey comes from Megginch Castle in the Carse of Gowrie between Perth and Dundee where the bees sit in an ancient orchard, started by monks in the 1500s. With luck and warm weather in June and July, the bees can gather a glorious clover honey.
The old orchard that they sit in has the old, small-flowered native clover and there are sown pastures of clover within flying distance. There needs to be some warmth to get the clover flowers producing enough nectar in their main season in late June and July. Groves of lime trees are also in flower on the estate at the same time and yield nectar only in humid weather and when there is enough soil moisture.
The flavour of clover honey is hard to describe and is best experienced. It lacks the citrusy note of some honeys, is sweeter than the average and has it own mild flavour, perhaps with vanilla-coconut-floral-malty notes. One of the classic honeys internationally and usually water-white, it is now hard to find in the UK with the loss of most wild pasture.
