Melita Honey Farm, Tasmania

I have been a customer of Melita Honey Farm (formerly named The Honey Farm) for a few years after I got tired of the supermarkets’ golden substance under “pure honey” labels and found thehoneyfarm.com.au online shop in the Internet. In September 2008 I was happy to visit the real shop in Chudleigh, Tasmania.

Having a very positive experience with online shopping on the Honey Farm website for a few years, I expected to see a very nice place and nice people in Chudleigh. The owners of the Honey Farm — Henk, Lida, Remmo and Fanny Beerepoot, a Dutch family — met my best expectations.

In this little Australian village in Tasmania, in the middle of nowhere, basically, they created a piece of a fairytale and successfully run the honey business. The little shop looks amazing, very clean, cosy and offers a huge range of honey, nougat, skin care products, beeswax candles and bee-related products. I met Henk, Lida and Fanny in the shop and they left an impression of people who love their job and doing it well. I hope to visit Chudleigh again when I am in Tasmania next time.

Melita Honey Farm contacts:

Online shop: thehoneyfarm.com.au

Address: 39 Sorell Street, Chudleigh, Tasmania, Australia

Phone: (03) 6363 6160, international +61 3 6363 6160

Opening hours:
Sunday—Thursday 9:00 to 17:00,
Friday 9:00 to 17:00 from October to March and 9:00 to 16:00 from April to September,
Saturday closed.

Melita Honey Farm shop
The Honey Farm shop
Melita Honey Farm honey range
A wide range of pure honey, Tasmanian manuka honey, fruit honey, floral infused honey, honey mixes with nuts, ginger, caramel, spices...
Honey skin care products
Honey skin care products
Melita Honey Farm for children
Museum, souvenirs, toys and an interesting display for children
Tasmanian honey
Tasmanian honey
Canles and beeswax products
Candles and beeswax products
Ginger honey
While always beneficial for the heath, in the time of the Australian winter and the present situation of the swine flu “disaster”, honey can be an especially good precautionary measure and remedy. My favourite helper with any cold and flu is Ginger honey, while Raspberry, Apple and Lemon honey are my daily desert.

P. S. I have driven hundreds of kilometres from Hobart to Chudleigh with only two reasons: to see Tasmania and to visit the Honey Farm shop. And, surprisingly, the shop was full of other customers who did exactly the same thing (I had to wait for a lucky moment to make each photo without a crowd). Good products worth going that far to shop, especially when there are also nice people and a place to see!

This is a little hint to some businesses that sit in the centre of Adelaide — a million people city — and complaining that they do not have enough customers. Maybe a good website is all that is needed, or better service, or better quality of products? It should not be too difficult in the era of made-in-china domination, when almost everything is getting worse and less reliable regardless of the selling price and promotional promises.

Personally, with me as a customer the common marketing approaches like fishing out customer’s details with any purchase to then bombard with personalised junk mail, or aggressive advertising, or “special” offers never worked, and had a adverse effect on me, actually. The quality of goods and service are the main things that affect my choice.

9 September 2009 update: I have been to Tasmania again and, of course, I visited the Honey Farm. Besides the traditional warm hospitality in the shop and a wonderful service, the Honey Farm offered a large amount of new honeys to taste and to choose from.

12 April 2010 update: I have just been told by Remmo, one of the Honey Farm owners, that the honey farm’s name is being changed from “The Honey Farm” to “Melita Honey Farm”. Therefore, I have made the corrections in the article.

6 May 2010 update. The last seven days were very happy: it was my holiday in Tasmania. It seems to become tradition that I drop in the Honey Farm shop every time I am not very far away. Below are some new photos.

Melita Honey Farm shop with its new sign
Melita Honey Farm shop with its new sign
Melita Honey Farm shop in Chudleigh, Tasmania
The main attraction in Chudleigh
Inside of the Melita Honey shop
Inside of the Melita Honey shop
Honey Farm, Lida and Fanny
Lida and Fanny
Honey tasting in Chudleigh
Honey tasting table
Melita Honey Farm ice cream
Honey ice cream. It is so tasty, even when the weather is cold and rainy. I can imagine how popular it is in summer!
Fanny Beerepoot
Fanny
Sunny Tasmanian honey, Australian honey
Sunny Australian honey
Alum Cliffs Gorge, Tasmania
If you don’t mind an extra 5 km drive and 800 m walk, you will be rewarded with a spectacular view of Alum Cliffs Gorge. Ask Fanny for directions when you are in the Honey Farm Shop, and don’t forget to take your comfortable walking shoes to Tasmania.

1 December 2010 update. Just returned from another trip to Tasmania, and, of course, a visit to Melita Honey Farm.

Melita Honey Farm, November 2010
The Honey Farm shop
Remmo and Fanny Beerepoot
Fanny and Remmo in the shop

Tasmanian beeswax candles

The time in Tassie was a joy, as always, but there is some news from the Honey Farm: Melita now makes its own 100% beeswax candles! I always liked that wonderful aroma of beeswax and always enjoyed the warm light of candles, so it was very nice to discover that the Honey Farm is combining the two into beautiful beeswax candles. Besides the pleasant aroma, beeswax candles have other benefits:

  • beeswax candles do not emit smoke (beeswax candles will only smoke if burnt in a draughty place, e.g. near an open window, or if the wick is too long);
  • beeswax candles burn up to 10 times longer than paraffin candles;
  • it is said that beeswax candles purify the air by emitting negative ions;
  • and Melita’s beeswax candles come in all sorts of lovely shapes and designs:
Melita Honey Farm Tasmanian beeswax pillar candles
pillars,
Tasmanian Melita Honey Farm beeswax tea lights candles
tealights,
Melita Honey Farm Tasmanian pure beeswax candles
balls,
Tasmanian beeswax candles
sunflowers,
Beeswax candles from Chudleigh, Tasmania
beehives,

and many more, which makes them a lovely gift for Christmas, New Year or any other special occasion.

If a beeswax candle started emitting smoke or soot, dripping down the sides or burning unevenly, make sure:

  • the candle is in a draught-free location (if the flame of the candle is dancing and flickering, there is a draught in that location);
  • the candle and the wick are straight (trim and straighten the wick after extinguishing, while still warm and flexible, or use a non-flammable implement to push the wick straight);
  • wick is not too long (carefully trim the wick to 5–7 mm prior to lighting the candle).

It is better to extinguish candles by pushing the wick into melted wax pool and then pulling it straight. This way, there will be no smoke emitted, the wick will be left straight and it will be easier to light the candle next time. To avoid tunneling (leaving thick walls) and formation of dripping channels, every time a candle is lit it should be allowed to burn long enough that the wax pool almost reaches the edges.

Alum Cliffs Gorge

Also, I walked to Alum Cliffs Gorge, again. This time it was quite foggy, which added more beauty and mystery to this amazing place.

Foggy Alum Cliffs Gorge
Foggy Alum Cliffs Gorge
Fog in forest, on the way to Alum Cliffs Gorge
On the way to Alum Cliffs Gorge

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