Waddesdon is a village in the Vale of Aylesbury best known for Waddesdon Manor — the French Renaissance château built by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild in the 1870s and now in National Trust care. The manor's landscaped grounds carry mature lime avenues, specimen chestnuts, parkland trees and a large Victorian garden that together provide an exceptional June flow for local colonies. The surrounding vale farmland is heavily planted with oilseed rape, followed by white clover and field beans through summer; the hedgerow network is unusually intact for this part of Bucks, with hawthorn, field maple and blackthorn on every boundary.
Swarms in Waddesdon settle on the avenue limes and ornamental cherry trees within the manor grounds, in the stone walls and chimney stacks of the older cottages along the High Street and Baker Street, in the hedgerow hawthorns along the footpath to Quainton and Westcott, and in the garden trees of the residential properties on the village edge.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
HP22 5TE· approx. 14 km
Visit websiteMK9 3EP· approx. 22 km
Visit websiteOX20 1LP· approx. 28 km
Visit websiteAssociation data sourced from the British Beekeepers Association directory via SwarmBase.
The Chiltern beech hangers produce an unusual honeydew flow some years; lime, field maple and sweet chestnut are the more reliable June flows through Marlow, High Wycombe, Amersham and Chalfont. In the Vale, oilseed rape dominates the spring and field beans support early June. Bramble is dense on the commons; rosebay willowherb fills every beech-clearing on the scarp. A strong late ivy flow runs across the flint-walled villages and ancient churchyards of the scarp foot.
More on beekeeping in BuckinghamshireReport it in under a minute and a trained local beekeeper will arrange safe collection.
