Worksop is a market town at the northern edge of Nottinghamshire, on the Ryton at the gateway to the Dukeries — the cluster of great ducal estates (Clumber, Welbeck, Thoresby, Rufford) set in the ancient Sherwood Forest parkland. The Nottinghamshire BKA covers the town, and the surrounding landscape — the ancient lime and oak avenue parklands of Clumber and Welbeck, the heather heathland and sand-plain of the Sherwood Forest fringe, the Ryton riverside willows and the old walled kitchen gardens of the ducal estates — gives Worksop bees access to some of the finest parkland lime forage in England.
Collectors regularly attend swarms in the older garden remnants and lime trees of the Bridge Street and Potter Street conservation areas, in the ancient lime-avenue parkland and walled garden remnants of Clumber Park, on the heather and bracken heathland of the Sherwood Forest margins, and in the chimney stacks and eaves of the older Victorian market-town and Dukeries-estate properties.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
S60 5PA· approx. 20 km
Visit websiteS41 8NA· approx. 21 km
Visit websiteNG15 9GA· approx. 25 km
Visit websiteAssociation data sourced from the British Beekeepers Association directory via SwarmBase.
Oilseed rape dominates the spring flow on the light sandy soils between Newark and Retford. Sycamore and horse chestnut carry May; lime lights the streets of Nottingham, West Bridgford, Mansfield and Worksop. Sherwood Forest gives a strong sweet-chestnut and oak-honeydew contribution in June. Rosebay willowherb is exceptionally heavy on the ex-colliery spoil heaps — a genuinely distinctive Nottinghamshire flow — and bramble fills every disused rail corridor. Ivy on old cottage walls closes a productive year.
More on beekeeping in NottinghamshireReport it in under a minute and a trained local beekeeper will arrange safe collection.
