Conway for the Honey Festival

Enjoy a day in Conway

Conwy Town is a world heritage site with an imposing thirteenth-century castle and walls. Conwy's quaint harbour, revolutionary Telford suspension bridge, it's close proximity to Wales most popular seaside resort and the mighty mountains of Snowdonia make Conwy one of the world's finest tourism destinations.

Conwy Honey Fair

The Conwy Honey Fair is said to be one of Britain's oldest food festivals, dating back over 700 years to the reign of King Edward I. The king granted local beekeepers the right to sell honey within the town's walls every September 13th, from midnight to midnight, free of charge. This privilege is part of the town's Royal Charter, and honey held significant value even then, as seen in the expenses recorded for Edward I at Rhuddlan Castle in 1281 and 1282, during the tenth and eleventh years of his reign.

At the fair, you can expect to see honey, honey-related products, beekeeping stalls, preserves, sweet treats and other produce and crafts.

The Conwy Honey Fair in North Wales dates back more than 700 years to the reign of King Edward 1st, when local beekeepers were first given the right to sell honey within the walls of the North Wales town, every September 13th, from midnight to midnight, without charge. The right to hold the Fair is in the town’s Royal Charter. Honey was very important even then, and in a roll of expenses of Edward 1st at Rhuddlan Castle in 1281 and 1282, the tenth and eleventh years of his reign, and predating the building of Conwy Castle in 1283 to 1289, is an item: repairing a cart of the King’s, conveying a pipe of honey from Aberconwy, 1s 4d.

Records from 1835 report that “Large quantities of very excellent honey are sold annually in Conwy. The superiority of its flavour is probably owing to its being extracted from the heath blossoms, and other wild flowers, on the neighbouring mountains” (Rev. Robert Williams, History of the town of Aberconwy, 1835). Its average price then was two shillings a quart, or about 8d a pound. Before 1830, four fairs were held annually in Conwy, on 6th April, 4th September, 10th October and 8th November. By 1835, this was increased to seven annual fairs, on 26th March (Seed Fair), 30th April, 20th June, 19th August, 16th September, 20th October and 5th November. By 1911, this had increased to 10, including butter, wool and horse fairs.