Tongwynlais is a village at the foot of Caerphilly Mountain in northwest Cardiff, best known for the fairytale towers of Castell Coch rising above the Taff Gorge wooded slopes. The Taff Gorge woodland — ancient mixed oak, ash, hazel and field maple — gives local bees a June tree-canopy flow rarely matched in an urban setting; the Caerphilly Mountain moorland adds bilberry and bramble on the high ground; and the River Taff carries alder, willow, meadowsweet and himalayan balsam below the castle. Ivy on the castle walls and the older village buildings closes the forage year.
Collectors attend swarms on the Taff Gorge woodland edge and its elder and bramble fringe below Castell Coch, along the River Taff path between Tongwynlais and Radyr and its alder and willow corridor, on the garden walls and stone eaves of the older cottages along Iron Bridge Road, in the moorland bracken and bramble scrub on the Caerphilly Mountain approaches, and in the flowering hedgerows of the village lanes.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
CF5 6LW· approx. 8 km
CF32 8UU· approx. 23 km
BS24 7AY· approx. 31 km
Visit websiteAssociation data sourced from the British Beekeepers Association directory via SwarmBase.
Early flows come from cherry plum and blackthorn in Bute and Roath parks. Sycamore and horse chestnut fill May; the lime collection in Bute Park is one of the largest in any UK city, giving a classic pale urban lime honey in June. Bramble is dense along the Taff Trail; rosebay willowherb flushes the former dock brownfield of Cardiff Bay. Coastal sea-lavender and samphire at Rhymney Great Wharf add a distinctive saline note; ivy on Victorian terraces closes the year.
More on beekeeping in CardiffReport it in under a minute and a trained local beekeeper will arrange safe collection.
