Chiswick occupies a westward bend of the Thames between Hammersmith and Kew, and its combination of riverside parkland, historic walled garden and the lime-lined streets of Bedford Park — England's first garden suburb — makes it one of the most beekeeping-friendly corners of inner west London. Chiswick House and its 65-acre grounds include a working walled kitchen garden, an ice house meadow, a camellia house and long lime avenues whose June flow is one of the most distinctive in the capital. The Thames towpath between Chiswick and Kew adds alder, willow and reed sweet-grass along the tidal edge, and the ivy on the old garden walls of Chiswick Mall and the wisteria on the riverside houses provide a long autumn season.
Collectors regularly attend swarms in the lime avenues and walled garden of Chiswick House Grounds, in the mature garden trees and hedgerow boundaries of the Bedford Park conservation area, along the Thames towpath and riverside gardens of Chiswick Mall towards Strand-on-the-Green, in the ornamental cherries and sycamores of Turnham Green and the surrounding residential streets, and in the chimney pots and eaves of the Edwardian and Victorian properties of the borough.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
UB6 8TJ· approx. 6 km
Visit websiteTW11BH· approx. 6 km
Visit websiteSE1 7JU· approx. 10 km
Visit websiteAssociation data sourced from the British Beekeepers Association directory via SwarmBase.
The capital opens early on crocus in the parks, then builds on blackthorn, cherry plum and Japanese cherry through March and April. The defining London flow is lime — avenues of common, small-leaved and silver lime line central streets from Regents Park to Bermondsey, producing the distinctively pale, mineral London honey of June. Bramble and rosebay willowherb fill brownfield sites and railway embankments, and a huge secondary ivy flow carries hives deep into autumn on Victorian cemeteries and garden boundaries.
More on beekeeping in Greater LondonReport it in under a minute and a trained local beekeeper will arrange safe collection.
