HERE’S some sweet relief for honey lovers: Oxfordshire beekeepers are celebrating their best harvest in years.

After a cold and miserable spring threatened to wipe some colonies out, a sizzling summer and a long, warm autumn gave them a second wind.

And results out from the British Beekeeper’s Association’s annual Honey Survey last week reveal that their members have raked in a healthy 26lbs of honey per hive on average.

That is an increase of 5lbs on average from last year’s harvest.

Chipping Norton beekeeper Nicky Smith said Oxfordshire has done better than many other regions.

She said: “My year tallies exactly with the national results.

“Some places like the north west have not been as good, but Oxfordshire is certainly doing better than other areas.”

The beekeeping year got off to a bad start before it had even begun: the hottest December ever recorded in the UK meant that bee colonies were not sent into their normal winter hibernation and wasted energy trying to forage for dead flowers.

To make matters worse, an unusually cold and windy spring prompted the National Bee Unit to issue a bee starvation warning, urging beekeepers to feed their colonies on sugar syrup.

Then the rain finally gave way to a glorious Indian summer.

Mrs Smith said her bees got a floral feast from late-flowering ivy and she ended up harvesting 60lb of honey from her one hive.

She added: “It has still defied expectations: we all thought it was going to be awful.”

The volunteers at Oxford City Farm this year harvested their first ever honey, and collected 50 eight-ounce jars from their one hive – about 25lbs.

The news will be especially sweet for one of Oxfordshire’s most famous food factories: Rowse Honey in Wallingford which buys much of its honey from British beekeepers.

Operations director Patrick Robinson said: “It is great news to hear that our recent weather has helped deliver an improved crop of honey versus 2015.”

For more information see bbka.org.uk