Bee swarm in Fownhope? Help is a minute away.

Fownhope is a substantial village on the east bank of the River Wye five miles south of Hereford, set in the rolling orcharded country between Woolhope Dome and the Wye valley corridor. Herefordshire Beekeepers covers the village and the surrounding parishes. The Fownhope area has some of the most productive orchard forage in Herefordshire — cider apple and perry pear blossoming from late April into May on the traditional orchards that survive between the newer livestock paddocks; the Wye flood plain adds willow and meadow flowers through summer; hawthorn and field maple on the Woolhope limestone hedges follow; and the ivy on the old red-sandstone church of St Mary and the ancient yew churchyard extends the season well into October.

The season opens on tens of thousands of tonnes of orchard blossom — cider apple, culinary apple and traditional perry pear — across the Leominster and Hereford belt. Hawthorn on deep double-hedges follows; hop gardens provide a quieter supplementary forage. Lime and sweet chestnut dot the market towns. The Black Mountain foothills add bilberry, heather and gorse to hives on the county edge, and bramble is dense throughout. A long, strong ivy flow on red-sandstone churches and orchard windbreaks carries the year out.