High Littleton is a village on the southern edge of the former Somerset coalfield, set on a limestone plateau above the Cam Brook valley between Radstock and Keynsham. Old engine houses and colliery spoil tips, now clothed in bramble and willowherb, edge into improved pasture and hedge-banked lanes that carry bees from spring hawthorn through to autumn ivy. The village lies within the coverage of Bath Beekeepers Association.
Collectors attend swarms in the hedgerow oaks and hawthorn on the Cam Brook valley slopes, in the old stone farm outbuildings and garden walls in the village centre, and on the former colliery land now colonised by bramble and elder south-east of the village.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
BA2 9JA· approx. 4 km
Visit websiteBA3 2DP· approx. 5 km
Visit websitebs313ep· approx. 8 km
Visit websiteAssociation data sourced from the British Beekeepers Association directory via SwarmBase.
The season opens on blackthorn and willow along the Avon riverside at Saltford and Keynsham, followed by hawthorn and apple blossom through the Chew valley orchards in May. Lime is the defining June flow in Bath — the plane trees of Great Pulteney Street, the lime avenues of Royal Victoria Park and the Prior Park landscape garden are particularly productive. Mendip-fringe limestone grasslands around Chew Magna, Bishop Sutton and Clutton carry wild thyme, knapweed and marjoram from June into July. Bramble is dense on the coal-measure slopes above Radstock, Midsomer Norton and Timsbury; willowherb and himalayan balsam flush the Avon towpath below Saltford and Keynsham through August. Ivy on Bath stone walls and village churchyards closes the year into October.
More on beekeeping in Bath and North East SomersetReport it in under a minute and a trained local beekeeper will arrange safe collection.
