Tonbridge is a market town on the Medway, enclosed by the orchards, hop gardens and hedged pasture of the Medway valley. The river's floodplain willows, the castle grounds and the avenue trees of the High Street give the town a solid early-season flow, and the surrounding fruit belt — apple, pear, cherry and plum — fills the hives through May and June in a good year. The Sevenoaks and Tonbridge Wells BKA is well-resourced for swarm collection here.
Collectors regularly attend swarms in the lime avenue and orchard gardens of the Haysden Country Park corridor, in the old boundary oaks and hop-garden hedges of the Leigh and Hildenborough villages, in the mature garden trees of the Tonbridge School playing fields area, and in the chimney stacks and sash-window voids of the Georgian and Victorian town-centre properties.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
TN10 4LL· approx. 2 km
Visit websiteME18 6EX· approx. 11 km
Visit websiteTN17 1JB· approx. 16 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.
