Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire, set on the Great Ouse with an elegant embankment and the rolling mixed farmland of the Ouse and Ivel valleys extending in every direction. The Bedfordshire BKA covers the town, and the surrounding landscape — the Great Ouse riverside willows and watermeadow margins, the old parkland limes of Bedford Park and the Embankment, the mixed arable farmland and ancient hedgerow oaks of the Bromham and Turvey fringe and the market-garden country of the sandy soils south of Bedford — gives local bees a productive mixed-agricultural season.
Collectors regularly attend swarms in the older garden remnants and lime trees of the High Street and The Embankment conservation areas, along the Great Ouse riverside willows and watermeadow margins at the Embankment and Priory Country Park, in the old orchard and kitchen garden remnants of the Bromham and Clapham fringe, and in the chimney stacks and eaves of the older Victorian and Edwardian town-centre properties.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
MK9 3EP· approx. 22 km
Visit websiteSG6 1NX· approx. 24 km
Visit websiteNN3 7AX· approx. 31 km
Visit websiteAssociation data sourced from the British Beekeepers Association directory via SwarmBase.
Oilseed rape is the dominant early flow across central Beds, supplemented by field beans. The Greensand Ridge brings sweet chestnut and bramble in the woods of Woburn, Aspley and Sandy. Lime lines the Georgian streets of Bedford and the older parts of Ampthill and Leighton Buzzard. Chalk grassland herbs — wild thyme, marjoram, knapweed — are still found on the downland fringe near Dunstable. Rosebay willowherb in the disused brickworks is a minor but characteristic flow; ivy on limestone village walls finishes the year.
More on beekeeping in BedfordshireReport it in under a minute and a trained local beekeeper will arrange safe collection.
