Miellerie Gendre

Sylvie Gendre is a beekeeper in La Chapelle au Mans, a small commune between Gueugnon and Bourbon-Lancy. For 16 years, Sylvie and her husband Thierry have been keeping Buckfast bees and transhumant beekeeping. From season to season, in sedentary apiaries or in transhumance, the bees follow the blooms. Spring honey, acacia honey and bramble honey are produced within a 20km radius of their farm, but also lavender honey, where the hives are transported by night to the fields of the Drôme Provençale for around 1 month, fir honey, which is harvested by their little foragers in the Jura in the very heart of the Joux forest, summer flower honey, which is also harvested in their sedentary beehives within a 20 km radius, and chestnut honey, which is harvested by their little winged beasts in the Ardèche in the Haut Vivarais region by transhumance of the hives, where they stay for around 15 days / 3 weeks. Pollen is also harvested from the very beginning of spring until the end of May and is then sold as dried pollen or fresh frozen pollen.

Breeding queen bees is also an important part of their business. Whether for their own use in their hives or to be sent to other beekeepers in France, this work, which is very different from honey production, is an ongoing task throughout the season.

They have also opted for processing: propolis, gingerbread, nougat, spreads, honey vinegar, mead (which won a silver medal in 2025 at the Concours des miels de France in Paris).

They have always opted for direct sales, to keep in touch with their customers, who have remained loyal year after year: 2 markets a month, the farmers' market "du pré à la cagette" in Gueugnon on the 2nd and 4th Friday of each month from March to mid-December, and the "marché des Thermes" in Bourbon Lancy, organised by the Bourbon Lancy tourist and spa office, on Thursday afternoons every fortnight, from 3-6pm from April to November. In autumn and winter, there are local fairs and Christmas markets in the area, and you can find their products at the "Les Paysans du Beurdin" producers' shop in Bourbon Lancy, as they are an integral part of the collective, as well as in grocery shops in the surrounding villages and at Auchan Gueugnon. Of course, a small shop is open on their premises at the honey house in La Chapelle au Mans from 5.30pm to 7pm or by appointment. Several "open days" are organised during the beekeeping season (check with the Gueugnon and Bourbon Lancy tourist offices).

Beekeepers welcome all year round France Passion