Ware is a handsome market town on the River Lea in east Hertfordshire, its Georgian malting warehouses and riverside promenade sitting at the centre of a richly varied bee landscape. The Lea Valley corridor — one of England's great linear forage routes — provides willows, alders and reed-bed pollen from early March; the parkland of Ware Priory and the old malt-house orchard gardens contribute hawthorn and sycamore. Upstream, the wooded clay country towards Much Hadham and Standon adds field maple, ash and bramble, while the chalk grassland of the Hertford Heath nearby brings a useful wild-flower supplement.
Collectors in Ware regularly attend swarms in the riverside gardens and Lea-bank willows along Crib Street and the Priory grounds, in the hedgerow oaks and field maples on the farmland lanes towards Widford and High Cross, in the mature gardens of the Amwell and Musley Hill suburbs, and in the old brick chimney pots of the malting quarter near the High Street.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
SG13 7DR· approx. 2 km
Visit websiteEN10 7AW· approx. 7 km
Visit websiteAL7 3TT· approx. 12 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.
