Kirkbymoorside is a market town at the southern edge of the North York Moors National Park, set between the heather moorland plateau above and the broad Vale of Pickering below. The town's market place and medieval church sit in a sheltered valley, and the contrast between the upland moors and the lowland vale means local bees can forage across both landscapes within a short flight: bilberry and ling heather on the high moorland above Bransdale and Farndale from late July, white clover and meadow wildflowers on the vale fields in summer, and hawthorn and blackthorn on the enclosed field hedges in spring.
Local collectors attend swarms in the market place sycamore and lime trees, in the older stone properties and chimney pots of the conservation area around Kirkgate and West End, along the hawthorn and elder hedges of the footpaths leading up to the moor edge above the town, and in the garden fruit trees and mature hedges of the residential streets between Gillamoor Road and Westgate.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
YO62 7SE· approx. 4 km
Visit websiteYO17 7HD· approx. 17 km
YO61 3AG· approx. 24 km
Association data sourced from the British Beekeepers Association directory via SwarmBase.
The Vale opens on oilseed rape, hawthorn and sycamore; the Dales add hedgerow bramble and lime around Ripon, Harrogate and Skipton; but North Yorkshire is defined by its heather. The North York Moors and the eastern Dales give long, reliable ling flows from late July into September — still commercially worked, still producing some of the finest heather honey in the UK. Bilberry on high pasture adds a quiet early-summer supplement, and rosebay willowherb flushes every managed forestry clearing.
More on beekeeping in North YorkshireReport it in under a minute and a trained local beekeeper will arrange safe collection.
