Tewkesbury is a medieval town at the confluence of the Severn and Avon, with a Norman abbey, flood meadows and the pastoral Severn Vale surrounding it. The riverside meadows carry willowherb and meadowsweet through summer, and the apple and plum orchards of the surrounding villages add a classic spring flow. Tewkesbury sits in a honeydew-rich landscape when conditions are right, and the local beekeeping community has ties to both the Cheltenham & Gloucester and Malvern Hills BKAs.
Collectors regularly attend swarms in the old orchard and garden walls of the Abbey Terrace and Barton Street conservation areas, along the riverside willows and alders of the Severn meadows at Mythe and Severn Ham, in the meadow hedgerow trees of the farmland lanes towards Bredon and Ashchurch, and in the chimney stacks and timber-framed roof voids of the medieval town-centre properties.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
GL50 1QA· approx. 13 km
Visit websiteGL18 1BD· approx. 19 km
Visit websiteWR1 1AA· approx. 22 km
Visit websiteAssociation data sourced from the British Beekeepers Association directory via SwarmBase.
The Cotswolds give early blackthorn and hawthorn on drystone hedges, with limestone grassland herbs later. The Severn Vale brings oilseed rape, horse chestnut and hawthorn in the valley pastures. The Forest of Dean is the country flavour — sweet-chestnut coppice, holly, bilberry and a late heather patch on the upper heaths. Bramble is universal; lime and sycamore dominate the June streets of Cheltenham, Gloucester and Stroud. A reliable autumn ivy flow on stone-walled churches carries hives into October.
More on beekeeping in GloucestershireReport it in under a minute and a trained local beekeeper will arrange safe collection.
