Our Story

Good People - Great Honey - Real Honest Manuka

SummerGlow Apiaries Ltd is a family owned and operated New Zealand beekeeping company established in 1976 by husband and wife team, Bill and Margaret Bennett.

Bill's uncle, Norman Tuck, took up beekeeping in the Waikato, New Zealand, in the early 1940's. Bill helped his uncle during his school holidays in the early 1960's. Through working alongside his uncle Bill developed a deep appreciation of beekeeping and of the health-giving qualities of honey. During his high school years Bill ran his own hives in his parent's backyard and kept his family well-supplied with home-grown honey.

In 1976 Bill took up beekeeping fulltime and with his wife, Margaret, established SummerGlow Apiaries Ltd running about 600 hives.

In 2010 and 2011 their son, Alan Bennett, and son-in-law, James Jeffery, joined the company giving the business growth and continuation for many years ahead.

Our family has been beekeeping and producing honey from New Zealand's beautiful native bush and pastureland for over 45 years.

"We really know our honey". We now have more than 3500 beehives located in the greater Waikato region, in the pristine bush areas of the northern King Country and in the remote Forgotten World region of North Taranaki, North Island, New Zealand.

We specialize in the production of high grade UMF16+ Manuka Honey which, for the past 26 years, we have sent directly to customers worldwide.

In 1998 Bill and Margaret pioneered the establishment of the now highly-revered and trusted quality trademark UMF®.

We were the very first to differentiate between the two types of manuka honey and the first to make high grade UMF16+ Manuka Honey available to people who could benefit from its unique properties.

UMF Licence Number 1001

In 1995 we were the very first to differentiate between the two types of manuka honey and the first to make high grade UMF16+ Manuka Honey available to people who could benefit from its unique qualities.

Our UMF Licence number 1001, being the first ever issued, shows our dedication to and historical involvement with this very special honey.

We send our Genuine New Zealand Manuka Honey UMF16+ direct from us the Producers here in New Zealand to you the Consumer

Our Vision

"To see people worldwide experience the unique qualities of genuine high grade UMF Manuka Honey....because we care!"

Our Key People

Bill & Margaret Bennett

Founders, Owners, and Directors

Alan Bennett

Head Beekeeper, Company Manager

James Jeffery

Compliance Manager, Beekeeper, Company Manager

Sheryl

Office Manager

Christine

E-commerce / Dispatch Manager

Beekeeper

Simon

Beekeeper

Peter

Head Store-person, Honey Extraction Manager

Joe

Beekeeper

Harry

Trainee Beekeeper

Alistair

Trainee Beekeeper

Our Own Place

We are based at Te Kowhai, a small township about 8km northwest of Hamilton.

Our beehives are located throughout the greater Waikato area and in the remote inland King Country and Taranaki areas.

We place our beehives in different geographic regions for different floral types of honey from New Zealand's pristine native bush and lush green farmland. Our hives produce honey from manuka, kanuka, rewarewa, kamahi, and pasture.

Every drop of our manuka honey is produced by our own bees from manuka areas which we own and in which we have had hives for the past 43 years.

Our Own Land

Bill and Margaret Bennett, founders of SummerGlow Apiaries Ltd, own 1640 acres of manuka-growing land on which we place our hives for the production of high grade manuka honey.

Our manuka grows wild in its natural state, not in man-made plantations but on spray-free, chemical-free protected conservation wetlands and on the very steep hillsides of some of New Zealand's most remote wilderness areas in the isolated Forgotten World area of North Taranaki.

Our Own Single Source Honey

This is Really Good Quality Honey

All the honey we sell is produced by our own bees from manuka areas and native bush areas which we own and in which we have had hives for the past 45 years. We do not buy honey from any other beekeepers.

We have full control of the quality and purity of all the honey we sell. We know exactly where our honey comes from.

"The Lord Is Our Light And Our Salvation"

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