Steyning is a small historic market town in the Adur valley, sheltered beneath the steep chalk escarpment of the South Downs and flanked by the flood meadows of the upper Adur. The Downs above the town carry clover, vetch and rock-rose through June and July; the water meadows below offer sallow and willowherb; and the bramble in the hedged lanes between is almost continuous through summer.
Collectors are regularly called to swarms in the old flint walls and tile-hung cottages of the High Street and Church Street, in the mature gardens on the Downs-foot lanes towards Bramber and Steyning Bowl, and on the scrubby chalk slopes above Mouse Lane where feral colonies use hollow chalk-flint outcrops as nest sites.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
BN12 5JL· approx. 12 km
Visit websiteRH14 0DS· approx. 19 km
Visit websiteRH11 9AU· approx. 23 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.
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