Pemberton Honey Co

Pemberton Honey Co works from Whispering Woods, the farm Mikey and Allexa Cernotta set up in 2015 just outside Pemberton, on the edge of the karri forest. Mikey runs the farm and the bees as head beekeeper. Allexa looks after sales and marketing.

This is a migratory operation. Rather than keep the hives in one place, the beekeepers move them onto nectar flows around the south-west corner of the state and well beyond it, to Esperance, the Goldfields and north of Perth. The aim is to keep the bees among flowers all year, and it gives the range its breadth.

Most of the honeys are single-flower, each named for the tree or shrub the bees worked: karri, wandoo, marri, jarrah, yate, hakea, tuart, red bell and parrot bush. Where the owners can't produce a variety themselves, they bring in honey from a small number of beekeepers they know. The shop names the nectar country for many of the jars, from karri forest between Denmark and Pemberton to the coastal plain north of Perth.

Everything is extracted, packed and checked on the farm, in a purpose-built building the owners call the packing shed. The maker says its methods are chosen to keep each honey's taste and colour. Jars come in 340g, 500g and 1kg, and a tasting pack of three small jars puts varieties side by side. Honey soap, lip balm, beeswax candles and blocks of beeswax fill out the shelf.

Visitors can buy from a self-serve stall at the packing shed, seven days a week. Tastings, shed tours and longer beekeeping experiences with Mikey are by appointment. The honey is also stocked in shops across the South West, and the online shop delivers Australia-wide. Check the maker's site before visiting.