Kirkby Lonsdale is a small market town on the River Lune in the far south of Cumbria, perched above one of the finest river views in England — the Ruskin's View panorama immortalised in watercolour. Its bees work the Lune valley's rich limestone meadows where marjoram, thyme and bird's-foot trefoil supplement the hawthorn and sycamore of the hedgerows, and the lower fells of the Howgills provide a modest heather flow into September.
Swarms in Kirkby Lonsdale settle on the stone buildings of Market Square, on the lychgate and churchyard yews of St Mary's and in the riverside willows and alders below Devil's Bridge. The older farm outbuildings on the Lune valley lanes produce a consistent crop of swarms each May.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
LA5 9SE· approx. 12 km
Visit websiteLA10 5AD· approx. 14 km
Visit websiteLA8 8LX· approx. 20 km
Visit websiteAssociation data sourced from the British Beekeepers Association directory via SwarmBase.
Spring comes late here; blackthorn and hawthorn only really get going in mid-May. Sycamore is important around every fell farm; bramble and white clover carry midsummer. The defining flow is fell heather — bell from late July, ling into September — across the central Lakes, the Howgills and the north Pennines, still widely migrated to for one of the best heather crops in England. Bilberry in the oakwoods adds a small early-summer supplement. Limestone pavement herbs on the Morecambe Bay edge and ivy on whitewashed cottages finish the year.
More on beekeeping in CumbriaReport it in under a minute and a trained local beekeeper will arrange safe collection.
