Burren Blossom Honey

The Company

Burren Blossom Honey is a small-scale artisan producer, based in the village of Ballyvaughan and owned by local farmer Damian Martyn. Damian first became interested in bee keeping, several years ago, starting small with a couple of hives. His interest grew when he attended a course in beekeeping in Galway and decided to expand further, with another four hives. Damian sells his honey at the local farm shop at Aillwee Burren Experience and to the local community.

The Product 

The landscape of the Burren is ripe for honey producing, with its rich biodiversity of local plants and flowers. Damian’s bee hives are hidden away in a field up a small ‘boreen’ or country road which is next to the striking limestone hills of the Burren. During the year, the hives must be checked weekly to ensure they are healthy. The honey is usually harvested in late August and early September. Depending on the season and what is in bloom, the honey has flavours of dandelion, clover, heather and much more. Although the honey is greatly influenced by seasonality, a hive will yield on average 20kg per year. 

The Burren is internationally famed for the diversity of its flowering plants, and honey produced by bees foraging in the Burren contains nectar and pollen from alpine plants sharing space with others seen normally in Mediterranean climates. Woodland plants grow out in the open, away from any forest, and many species of flowering plants common here are extremely rare elsewhere in the world. The result of this diverse flora is a jar of honey containing a blend of nectar varieties not found together anyplace else.