A Ringwood honey business says it is buzzing with happiness to celebrate 10 years of honey-making. 

Honey by Ian and Co, a family-run honey business from Ringwood, has begun to celebrate its first decade after being established in 2014 as a hobby. 

Run by husband and wife, Ian Warmer, 61, and Pat Warmer, 51, the business began after Ian took an interest in bees after acquiring a hive. 

Pat said: "Ian is a landscape gardener by trade and he received an old beehive from somebody who didn't want it and was going to throw it out. He sanded it down, pained it and put it in the back of our garden and when we were eating a picnic in the garden, this huge black cloud of bees arrived. 

"They smelt the honey in the past and decided they were going to make it their home. We didn't have a clue what to do but Ian wanted to research it and he became quite interested in it."

Ian quickly became involved within the bee community in Dorset, becoming a member of Bournemouth and Dorset South group of beekeepers before realising there was a business interest in honey. 

A decade on, Ian and Pat now both own 30 hives across Dorset and Hampshire including in Burley, Ringwood, Alderholt and Bere Regis, which they visit weekly to check on. 

While all grown within a 50-mile radius, Pat was keen to state that the favours and consistency of the honey varies hugely depending on where it is made. 

She said: "Burley, for example, has lots of heather and that changes the taste of the honey and the texture as well.

"Heather honey is quite bubbly, whereas with Ferndown honey, bees are visiting back gardens and that completely alters the taste."

The company usually harvests twice a year in spring and summer but a bad spring means it is unlikely they will get the first harvest. 

However this has not dampened the couple's mood, and they hope to be able to sell honey at most major Dorset and Hampshire festivals and markets this year.