Cobham is a prosperous Surrey village on the River Mole between Leatherhead and Weybridge, with the ancient parkland of Painshill and the Cobham Park estate providing outstanding forage diversity for local colonies. The chalk and greensand transition soils here carry a generous range of flowering trees — lime, horse chestnut, field maple and sweet chestnut — while the riverside water meadows of the Mole contribute sallow, water mint and meadowsweet from May onwards. The Weybridge BKA is the nearest collector network, covering the north-west Surrey corridor.
Collectors regularly attend swarms in the walled kitchen gardens and ornamental parkland trees of the Painshill estate and Cobham Park, in the river-edge willows and alder carr along the Mole between Cobham and Stoke D'Abernon, in the mature limes of the village high street and the churchyard of St Andrew's, in the garden boundary oaks of the Fairmile and Stoke Road residential lanes, and in the older property rooflines near the Between Streets conservation area.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
KT15 2QJ· approx. 8 km
Visit websiteKT8 0AG· approx. 8 km
Visit websiteKT17 2AF· approx. 11 km
Visit websiteAssociation data sourced from the British Beekeepers Association directory via SwarmBase.
Spring builds fast on blackthorn, hawthorn and horse chestnut along the North Downs scarp, then leans heavily on field maple, sycamore and the urban lime avenues of Guildford, Dorking and Woking. The lowland heaths — Chobham, Frensham, Thursley — give a late bell heather crop in good Augusts that colonies here can count on, supplemented by rosebay willowherb across the MoD training land. Bramble is dense from Box Hill to the Surrey Hills AONB, and the old walled churchyards carry a strong ivy flow into autumn.
More on beekeeping in SurreyReport it in under a minute and a trained local beekeeper will arrange safe collection.
