Clitheroe is a handsome market town in the Ribble Valley, sitting below its Norman castle keep with Pendle Hill to the south-east and the limestone fells of the Forest of Bowland to the north. The Ribble floodplain supports rich clover, wildflower meadow and riverside willowherb forage, while the limestone scars above town carry thyme and vetch communities that make Clitheroe honey particularly distinctive in flavour and colour.
Swarms in Clitheroe are often found in the garden trees and limestone-wall boundaries of the older properties around Castle Street and King Street, in the hawthorn and elder hedgerows of the Ribble Valley walking routes out towards Sawley and Chatburn, and occasionally in the mature trees of Clitheroe Castle grounds, which sit at the centre of the town's conservation area.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
BB113RQ· approx. 15 km
Visit websitePR1 8AP· approx. 24 km
Visit websiteBD20 8PE· approx. 25 km
Visit websiteAssociation data sourced from the British Beekeepers Association directory via SwarmBase.
Spring opens on sycamore and hawthorn in the Ribble Valley hedges; oilseed rape is present but secondary. Lime fills June in Preston, Lancaster, Blackburn and Burnley. The Forest of Bowland and the Pennine fringe produce bell and ling heather from late July to early September — a classic Lancashire heather flow, thick and commercially migrated to. Bramble is dense; rosebay willowherb flushes Blackburn and Burnley former-mill brownfield. Ivy on stone-built villages and coastal bungalows closes the year.
More on beekeeping in LancashireReport it in under a minute and a trained local beekeeper will arrange safe collection.
