Dorking is a handsome market town in the Surrey Hills AONB at the foot of Box Hill, surrounded by the chalk and greensand country of the North Downs and the wooded clay vale of the Mole valley. Box Hill's open chalk grassland, veteran yews and lime woodland make it one of the richest bee forage sites in Surrey, and the Dorking area's mix of allotment gardens, walled kitchen gardens and ancient woodland is particularly productive in early summer.
Collectors regularly attend swarms in the mature garden trees of the South Street and West Street conservation areas, in the orchard remnants and kitchen gardens of the country houses between Dorking and Brockham, on the chalk scrub and lime woodland margins of Box Hill, and in the old roof spaces and chimney stacks of the historic market town properties.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
RH3 7BQ· approx. 6 km
Visit websiteKT17 2AF· approx. 14 km
Visit websiteSM7 3QA· approx. 15 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.
