Deal is a compact coastal town on the exposed eastern shore of Kent, between Dover and Sandwich Bay, with a medieval street plan largely intact behind its shingle and sand beach. The Sandwich Bay nature reserve to the north holds one of the finest areas of coastal chalk grassland in England, with wild orchids, kidney vetch and bird's-foot trefoil providing an unusually rich early-summer flow for colonies based inland. The sheltered walled gardens of Walmer and the orchard and hop-ground country behind Ringwould add a generous bramble and field-maple mid-season. The Dover & District BKA covers the area.
Collectors attend swarms in the Georgian cottage gardens and flint-walled yards of the old town centre, along the scrubby shingle margins and sea-buckthorn thickets of Sandwich Bay, in the walled kitchen gardens and mature limes of Walmer Castle grounds, in the orchard and hedgerow lanes between Deal and Ringwould, and in the chimney stacks of the tightly-packed Victorian terraces near the seafront.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
CT15 4AD· approx. 10 km
Visit websiteCT12 4HQ· approx. 13 km
Visit websiteCT4 5DY· approx. 20 km
Visit websiteAssociation data sourced from the British Beekeepers Association directory via SwarmBase.
Few places open as explosively as Kent. Cherry, apple, pear and plum in the orchards of Faversham, Tenterden and the Medway bring an intense early flow, followed closely by oilseed rape on the North Downs dip slopes. Lime and sweet chestnut carry hives through June, particularly in the coppiced woods of the Weald. Late summer is often dominated by fireweed on the chalk pits and disturbed ground, with a strong and valuable ivy flow across the coastal plain from Deal to Whitstable. Hops, though decorative for bees, add to the mosaic.
More on beekeeping in KentReport it in under a minute and a trained local beekeeper will arrange safe collection.
