Royal Welsh Show 2019: Major award for Hilltop Honey founder

Scott Davies, of Hilltop Honey, was awarded the Dr Emrys Evans Award at the 100th Royal Welsh Show on Monday, July 22, in front of friends and family.

Mr Davies said he was “over the moon” to have received the reward by the RWAS’s president for 2019 Seimon Thomas and his wife, Eleanor in recognition of successful Welsh agri-food businesses.

“I feel privileged,” he said.

“You don’t start a business with awards in mind and it’s really nice to come here and represent Montgomeryshire. We’ve had to compete with all these businesses from across Wales and luckily we came out on top.

Scott Davies (centre) from Hilltop Honey collects his award at the Royal Welsh Show. Picture: Phil Blagg. PB352-2019-202.

Mr Davies said he was shocked to receive a phone call from the RWAS to say that he had won the award.

“I couldn’t quite believe it to be honest. I just had my Sunday lunch and a gentleman phoned me up and said ‘you’ve won’ and that I was the first person that they had judged. They said that I was the yard stick they used to judge everyone else and he told me to to keep it up. I was just over the moon.”

Judges David Morgan and Tim Dowdeswell said they were “extremely impressed” by the high standard of entrants this year and described the three finalists as “shining beacons of young businesses”.

The Newtown entrepreneur started his business following an accident at work and then decided to keep bees. He started selling his honey door to door, and then to a local shop.

Scott then took out an overdraft of £5,000 to invest in equipment, to brand his business, and to take a stand at a food event in London; this led to his first wholesale customer.

Mr Davies quickly developed his business, while learning about marketing, selling management and finance.

In eight years, Mr Davies has turned a few hives on his dad’s farm into Hilltop Honey, a brand that is sold on supermarket shelves.