Oakham is the county town of Rutland — a compact limestone market town with a twelfth-century castle, a working market square and Victorian allotment gardens on the town fringe. The grounds of Oakham Castle and the meadows sloping down towards Rutland Water give local colonies a varied season that runs from early hawthorn on the hedgerows to late ivy on the churchyard walls.
Local collectors regularly attend swarms in the chestnut and lime trees around Oakham Castle and the parish churchyard, in the stone chimney pots and roof voids of the Market Place cottages, along the hedgerow oaks on the Burley Road out of town, and in the garden willows and apple trees of the residential streets south of the centre.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
PE9 4HZ· approx. 18 km
Visit websiteNG318JS· approx. 30 km
Visit websitePE7 3BN· approx. 37 km
Visit websiteAssociation data sourced from the British Beekeepers Association directory via SwarmBase.
The season opens on blackthorn and hawthorn along the ancient limestone hedgerows, followed by sycamore and oilseed rape across the arable fields east of Oakham and Ketton. Lime flowers well in both market towns in June; white clover and field margins carry colonies through July. The reservoir shore at Rutland Water supports willowherb and wild angelica into late summer, and field maple, bramble and ivy on the churchyard walls close the year through October and November.
More on beekeeping in RutlandReport it in under a minute and a trained local beekeeper will arrange safe collection.
