Petworth is a small West Sussex market town built around the vast 700-acre Petworth Park — an ancient deer park of veteran trees that is one of the richest honey bee landscapes in southern England. The town's stone walls and cottage chimneys make frequent nest sites for feral colonies.
Local collectors are regularly called to swarms on the edges of Petworth Park, along the stone garden walls of the town centre, in the sweet-chestnut coppice of Northchapel and Kirdford, and in the roof voids of the old cottages on Lombard Street and East Street.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
RH14 0DS· approx. 8 km
Visit websitePO18 0EE· approx. 16 km
Visit websiteGU5 0LB· approx. 22 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.
