Our Beekeeping and Honey Story

The secret of our honey success? We care about our bees

Nature's Secret is a New Zealand honey business owned and operated by Jon and Pippa Sawden.

Because we're a family business we take extra care at every stage – from setting up hives and looking after our bees, to sustainably harvesting the raw honey and ensuring it retains all its natural goodness.

Beekeepers harvesting honey

The story began in 1978 when Jon's father, Dave Sawden, bought his first hive.

Within a few years he was providing pollination services to the local orchards and selling his honey. From a young age Jon lent a hand and started learning the ropes of the beekeeping business.

After working in the building industry, Jon felt the call of the land and returned to his beekeeping roots. He really appreciated the assistance he received from his father, from words of advice to practical help in the field.

Jon and Pippa together built up the business, adding more hives and finding new sites where their bees could harvest the bounty of New Zealand's wild flowers. They initially wholesaled their honey under another brand but the real goal was to create their own label – Nature's Secret.

Every drop of Nature's Secret honey comes from the company's own hives, which are tended year-round by Jon, Pippa and a small team.

Our honey is subject to monitoring and testing to ensure consistent quality during the extraction and packing process.

The result is a range of high-quality honeys from the wild landscapes of New Zealand, sold at competitive prices for you and your family to enjoy.

 Check out our Honey