Hereford is the cathedral city and county town of Herefordshire, set in the wide Wye valley meadowlands with the Black Mountains and Brecon Beacons rising to the west and the fruit-growing orchard country of the Lugg and Frome valleys extending to the north and east. The Herefordshire BKA is based in the city, and the surrounding landscape — the apple and pear orchards of the Golden Valley and Bromyard Downs, the water-meadow willows of the Wye and Lugg, the old walled gardens of Cathedral Close and the limestone grassland of the Woolhope Dome — makes Hereford one of the finest cider-orchard beekeeping centres in England.
Collectors regularly attend swarms in the lime trees and old orchard remnants of the Cathedral Close and Castle Green conservation areas, along the Wye riverside willows and watermeadow margins at Victoria Bridge and Hunderton, on the orchard and hedgerow margins of the Lugg and Frome valleys towards Mordiford and Dormington, and in the chimney stacks and eaves of the older city-centre and Victorian properties.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
HR1 2NG· approx. 0 km
Visit websiteHR29PA· approx. 12 km
Visit websiteGL18 1BD· approx. 25 km
Visit websiteAssociation data sourced from the British Beekeepers Association directory via SwarmBase.
The season opens on tens of thousands of tonnes of orchard blossom — cider apple, culinary apple and traditional perry pear — across the Leominster and Hereford belt. Hawthorn on deep double-hedges follows; hop gardens provide a quieter supplementary forage. Lime and sweet chestnut dot the market towns. The Black Mountain foothills add bilberry, heather and gorse to hives on the county edge, and bramble is dense throughout. A long, strong ivy flow on red-sandstone churches and orchard windbreaks carries the year out.
More on beekeeping in HerefordshireReport it in under a minute and a trained local beekeeper will arrange safe collection.
