Romsey is a small market town on the Test, one of the most famous chalk streams in England, with the medieval Romsey Abbey and the open watermeadows of Broadlands Park flanking the river through the centre of town. The Test valley's willow carr, meadowsweet and water-mint give an excellent early flow, and the mixed farmland towards Braishfield and Kings Somborne adds clover and borage in July. The Romsey & District BKA is well-placed to cover the whole Test valley.
Local collectors regularly handle swarms in the riverside willows and alders of the Broadlands estate boundary, in the old stone and brick walls of the Abbey precinct, in the garden orchards of Braishfield and Michelmersh, and in the chimney stacks of the Georgian townhouse terraces on The Hundred and Church Street.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
SO51 6DL· approx. 3 km
Visit websiteSO158NY· approx. 9 km
Visit websiteSO30 3HA· approx. 14 km
Visit websiteAssociation data sourced from the British Beekeepers Association directory via SwarmBase.
The season opens on oilseed rape across the downs north of Winchester, followed by hawthorn, sycamore and field maple in the hedgerow-rich chalk country. Early summer brings the famous lime flow through Romsey, Alresford and the avenues of Southampton Common, with bramble and white clover carrying hives through July. Late summer belongs to the New Forest — ling and bell heather on the open commons give a thick, amber-tending-black crop, and rosebay willowherb flushes every disturbed ride. Ivy on old boundary oaks finishes the year.
More on beekeeping in HampshireReport it in under a minute and a trained local beekeeper will arrange safe collection.
