Uckfield is a bustling market town in the Low Weald on the upper Uck, surrounded by oak and ash woodland, hedged dairy pasture and the southern margins of the Ashdown Forest a few miles to the north. It sits in the overlap of two BKA areas — Brighton & Lewes to the south and the Eastbourne division to the east — and benefits from a dense local beekeeping community.
Local collectors attend swarms in the garden trees and old orchards of the Bell Lane and Framfield Road areas, in the woodland edge hedgerows towards Buxted and Isfield, in the older Victorian and Edwardian properties near the high street, and in the mature garden oaks of the surrounding villages of Framfield and Little Horsted.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
TN6 3LJ· approx. 12 km
Visit websiteBN7 2LR· approx. 12 km
Visit websiteRH19 4SJ· approx. 16 km
Visit websiteAssociation data sourced from the British Beekeepers Association directory via SwarmBase.
The early flow starts on blackthorn and wild cherry, before hawthorn lights the hedges of the Weald. Late May to July carries the colonies on sweet chestnut around Heathfield, bramble across every common and hedge bank, and — most characteristically — heather on Ashdown Forest from late July into August, giving the dark, jelly-like Ash Down heather honey some members still cut-comb for show. Ivy closes the year on sheltered sandstone lanes and the tall old churchyards of Rye, Lewes and Battle.
More on beekeeping in East SussexReport it in under a minute and a trained local beekeeper will arrange safe collection.
