Kington is a small market town on the Arrow in the far west of Herefordshire, close to the Offa's Dyke path and the Radnorshire border, with the Hergest Ridge and Bradnor Hill rising immediately above. The Herefordshire BKA covers the town, and the surrounding landscape — the heather and bilberry moorland of Hergest Ridge and the Radnor Forest fringe, the sheltered orchards and hedged pasture of the Arrow and Lugg headwater valleys, and the ancient hay meadows of the Black and White village lanes — gives local bees access to some of the most undisturbed Marches border-country forage in the county.
Collectors regularly attend swarms in the older garden and orchard remnants of the High Street and Mill Street conservation areas, on the heather and bilberry moorland margins of Hergest Ridge and Bradnor Hill, along the Arrow and Gilwern brook riverside willows and meadow margins, and in the chimney stacks and eaves of the older black-and-white market-town properties.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
HR29PA· approx. 21 km
Visit websiteHR1 2NG· approx. 28 km
Visit websiteSY8 1FD· approx. 29 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.
