The luxurious Balmoral, Edinburgh is now home to 50,000 very special guests
The colony of Italian honey bees checked-in to their hive on the rooftop of The Balmoral in spring and started work ahead of the busy summer season to produce home-grown honey to be served to guests at The Balmoral.
The Balmoral is the first five-star hotel in the city to welcome bees as permanent guests and has been working with bee keeper Brian Pool at Scottish Honey to ensure that the bees have settled well into their rooftop hive. Brian said:
“The bees are enjoying their new home high above the Edinburgh skyline. The conditions are excellent and they’ve been travelling to Calton Hill, the Botanic Gardens and Arthur’s Seat to collect nectar and pollen. So far the bees have produced 20kg of honey and look set to continue working hard through the summer months.”
Brian has been training the team at the hotel’s Michelin-starred restaurant, Number One, to ensure that there’s always someone on-site to look after the hive. The Number One team will work with Brian to oversee the production and ensure that each of the hotel’s restaurants and bars receive their fair share of honey to create new dishes with their home-grown ingredient.
Number One Head Chef, Brian Grigor, said: “We’re thrilled to be working with Scottish Honey on this collaboration and help support this environmentally friendly practice. Brian Pool is a third-generation professional beekeeper with over 40 years of experience, there is no better person placed to look after our five-star bees. It has been fascinating to learn about the honey production process and our team look forward to serving it to our guests this summer.”
The Balmoral, Edinburgh – where and how
1 Princes Street,
Edinburgh,
EH2 2EQ
Tel: +44 131 556 2414
Web: www.roccofortehotels.com
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