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Duchess Kate reveals she makes her own honey at Norfolk home

The Duchess has a new sweet hobby – literally!

kate middleton new hobby
Georgia Brown
Senior Lifestyle & Fashion Writer
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The Duchess of Cambridge is known for her many talents, from her culinary skills to her passion for photography, her love for tennis and even challenging her husband Prince William at sailing – but the royal has been keeping her latest hobby under wraps.

SEE: Duchess Kate's daily diet: the royal's breakfast, lunch and dinner revealed

Kate surprised local schoolchildren as she stepped out to visit the Natural History Museum in South Kensington on Tuesday, revealing she loves to make her own honey and sharing a pot of her own blend made by bees at Anmer Hall, Norfolk.

WATCH: Kate Middleton surprises children at the Natural History Museum

Passionate about the importance of bees linked to the museum's project about biodiversity, the Duchess asked the children if they knew where bees got their nectar from, before producing the sweet treat for the children to taste.

"Would you like to try some?" she asked. "I've got one spoon each. This came especially from my beehive."

Passing the honey around, Kate asked the children: "See if it tastes the same as at home. Does it taste like honey from the shops? Does it taste like flowers?"

kate middleton gifts children honey

Kate surprised the children with a sweet treat from her own bees

The Duchess asked the children if they knew how many species of bees there were in this country, telling them: "It's 350, isn't that amazing?"

She told them: "Every time you see a bee; say thank you so much because they make delicious honey." The children were visibly excited by the delicious sweet treat.

RELATED: Kate Middleton's favourite foods are not what you'd expect

SEE: Royal ladies' favourite brunch spots revealed: Duchess Kate, The Queen & Co

It is thought that bee keeping is actually a Middleton family hobby, also loved by Kate's brother James Middleton. The royal surprised her brother with a colony of 1,000 Buckfast bees as a birthday present when he turned 24.

The Prince of Wales also keeps bees and hives at Highgrove in Gloucestershire, and at Birkhall on the Balmoral estate in Aberdeenshire.

prince charles bee keeping

Prince Charles is also an avid beekeeper

In an ITV documentary with Sir David Attenborough last year, Prince William talked about how his children Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis loved watching bees making honey, but it was not known at the time the Cambridges had their own hives.

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