AN EXCLUSIVE new honey is about to hit the shelves – and people are already lining up to be the first to buy it.

Jacobite Apiaries has had its first successful harvest this summer, after three years of keeping bees around Cockenzie.

Run by Bryden McKinnie as a hobby, the first jars of honey are expected to be available next week.

And half the stock will be sold out of Cockenzie House and Gardens.

Bryden, better known as children’s entertainer Mighty Mac, began bee keeping three years ago.

He said: “Although I have had the hives for three years, the bad winters mean this is the first year we’ve had a honey harvest.

“I’ve been designing labels for the jars and coming up with names for our honey.

“One of the artists at Cockenzie House mentioned the Jacobite flowers and it seemed appropriate and inkeeping with the history of the area.” Part of the funding for the bee hives came from the Cockenzie Heritage Trust, which runs Cockenzie House and Gardens, so half the stock will go there to be sold.

But Bryden, 47, who lives in Port Seton with his wife and entertainment partner Louise, revealed the rest will be snapped up quickly.

He said: “People have already placed orders and I am being asked constantly when the honey will be ready.

“It’s exciting to see so much interest – I won’t know how many jars I have until I have extracted the honey, but I am hoping to fill between 30 to 40.” Bryden’s first batch is a blossom honey.