Cullompton is a small wool and market town in the Culm valley at the heart of Mid Devon, sheltered by the Blackdown Hills AONB to the east and the red-earth farmland of Devon's central ridge to the west. Oilseed rape, apple orchards, sycamore-lined lanes and the willowherb and loosestrife of the Culm water meadows combine to support a long productive season for local beekeepers.
Collectors are regularly called to swarms in the old orchard trees and overgrown hedgebank willows on the Cullompton edge towards Kentisbeare and Plymtree, in the ivy-clad walls and roof voids of the medieval High Street and the Fore Street wool-town buildings, and in the garden apple trees and hawthorn hedges of the newer residential estates on the town's northern and southern approaches.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
EX16 7DN· approx. 8 km
Visit websiteEX5 1EJ· approx. 17 km
Visit websiteTA4 1EU· approx. 21 km
Visit websiteAssociation data sourced from the British Beekeepers Association directory via SwarmBase.
Few UK counties open as quickly. Gorse and blackthorn flowering on the cob hedges of the South Hams can carry colonies into a strong early build-up, followed by the sycamore and lime flows of the river valleys — the Exe, Teign and Dart in particular. Sweet chestnut dots Haldon and the east Devon coast; Dartmoor's bell and ling heather give a classic, thick, ambercast crop into August. On Exmoor, the north-slope bilberry and late ling heather feed smaller, darker crops still prized by local keepers.
More on beekeeping in DevonReport it in under a minute and a trained local beekeeper will arrange safe collection.
