Tring is a Chilterns market town in the narrow Bulbourne Gap where the Grand Union Canal passes through the chalk escarpment between Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire. The National Trust Ashridge Estate — over two thousand hectares of beech, oak and sweet chestnut woodland rising to the Ivinghoe Hills — provides a sustained woodland honey flow from late May through June, and Tring Reservoirs SSSI, one of the finest inland wetlands in the Home Counties, adds willowherb, purple loosestrife and willow margin through midsummer. The chalk grassland of Tring Park above the town supports wild thyme, marjoram and bird's-foot trefoil on the west-facing escarpment slopes.
Collectors in Tring regularly attend swarms in the sweet chestnut and beech of Ashridge Estate along the Aldbury and Wigginton lanes, in the canal-side willows and bankside vegetation of the Grand Union Canal towpath between Tring and Bulbourne, in the old churchyard limes and garden fruit trees of the town centre conservation area, and in the chalk escarpment hedgerows and scrub of Tring Park above Hastoe.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
HP22 5TE· approx. 8 km
Visit websiteHP11 1BJ· approx. 20 km
Visit websiteHP9 2XG· approx. 20 km
Visit websiteAssociation data sourced from the British Beekeepers Association directory via SwarmBase.
The chalk uplands of the north — around Baldock, Royston and Letchworth — give oilseed rape, sainfoin and a solid hawthorn flow. The southern clay country leans on sycamore, horse chestnut and field maple, with the limes of Hertford, Harpenden and St Albans producing a classic June crop. Ashridge, Tring Park and the Chilterns edge add beech forage. Bramble on the commons and rosebay willowherb along the Lee Valley corridor carry midsummer. Ivy closes a long, productive year.
More on beekeeping in HertfordshireReport it in under a minute and a trained local beekeeper will arrange safe collection.
