Horley is a Surrey market town immediately north of Gatwick Airport, its residential streets and older market town core nestled in the broad Wealden valley of the River Mole between the North Downs and the High Weald. The Mole's water meadows, the alder and willow carr of the riverside Nature Reserve at Riverside Garden Park, the ancient hedgerow network of the lanes towards Burstow and Outwood, and the lime and horse chestnut planting of the older town conservation area give local honey bees a productive mid-Surrey season — hawthorn, oilseed rape and sycamore in spring, bramble and white clover through summer, ivy finishing the year on the old churchyard walls.
Horley collectors attend swarms in the riverside alder and willow of the Mole valley parks and Riverside Garden Park, in the old orchard and garden boundaries of the older properties on Albert Road and Victoria Road near the town centre, along the field-margin footpaths and hedgerow lanes towards Smallfield and Outwood, and in the chimney pots and older roof voids of the Victorian and inter-war terraces near Horley station.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
RH11 9AU· approx. 10 km
Visit websiteRH3 7BQ· approx. 10 km
Visit websiteRH19 4SJ· approx. 13 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.
