Crawley grew as one of the post-war new towns and retains an unusual mix of 1950s garden-city planting, Tilgate Forest on its southern edge, and the Gatwick agricultural fringe to the east. Its combination of mature gardens and nearby woodland gives honey bees a long, varied forage.
Local collectors are regularly called to swarms in the mature gardens of Ifield, Langley Green, Three Bridges and Pound Hill, in the edges of Tilgate and Worth Forest, and in the back boundaries of the older neighbourhood units of Northgate and Southgate.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
RH11 9AU· approx. 3 km
Visit websiteRH19 4SJ· approx. 10 km
Visit websiteRH3 7BQ· approx. 16 km
Visit websiteAssociation data sourced from the British Beekeepers Association directory via SwarmBase.
The county is carried by a long, staggered honey flow. Spring opens on the blackthorn and hawthorn of the Downs, followed by field maple and sycamore on the Weald, and the sweet-chestnut coppice still worked around the Arun and Rother valleys. Early summer brings white clover on the grazed chalk, bramble in every hedgerow, and the heavy lime flow that lines the streets of Chichester, Arundel and Horsham. Late summer leans on rosebay willowherb, balsam along the Adur, and a strong ivy flow into October on sheltered south-facing lanes. It is a long season, and hives work hard.
More on beekeeping in West SussexReport it in under a minute and a trained local beekeeper will arrange safe collection.
