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.
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.
26 October 2008
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.
1 December 2010 update. Just returned from another trip to Tasmania, and, of course, a visit to Melita Honey Farm.
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:
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.
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