Paulton is a former mining village south of Midsomer Norton now largely a commuter settlement, set above the Cam Brook valley on the northern fringe of the Mendip Hills. The valley below carries elder and hawthorn scrub along the brook margins, while bramble has colonised the old spoil-heap ground on Paulton Hill to give bees a long late-summer flowering. Limestone meadows on the approach to the Mendip fringe support additional wildflower forage through spring and early summer.
Collectors attend swarms in the Cam Brook riverside elder and hawthorn scrub below the village, on the bramble-covered former pit-head banks on Paulton Hill, in the stone cottage gardens and roof voids on the High Street, and in the orchard trees and elder of the older residential plots near the village church.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
BA3 2DP· approx. 4 km
Visit websiteBA2 9JA· approx. 7 km
Visit websitebs313ep· approx. 11 km
Visit websiteAssociation data sourced from the British Beekeepers Association directory via SwarmBase.
The season opens on blackthorn and willow along the Avon riverside at Saltford and Keynsham, followed by hawthorn and apple blossom through the Chew valley orchards in May. Lime is the defining June flow in Bath — the plane trees of Great Pulteney Street, the lime avenues of Royal Victoria Park and the Prior Park landscape garden are particularly productive. Mendip-fringe limestone grasslands around Chew Magna, Bishop Sutton and Clutton carry wild thyme, knapweed and marjoram from June into July. Bramble is dense on the coal-measure slopes above Radstock, Midsomer Norton and Timsbury; willowherb and himalayan balsam flush the Avon towpath below Saltford and Keynsham through August. Ivy on Bath stone walls and village churchyards closes the year into October.
More on beekeeping in Bath and North East SomersetReport it in under a minute and a trained local beekeeper will arrange safe collection.
