Quarriers Village is a remarkable historic settlement on the Gryfe Water east of Bridge of Weir, founded in 1876 by William Quarrier as a model cottage village for orphaned and disadvantaged children and now a housing estate and care village whose listed cottages and chapel retain the original Victorian philanthropic character. The village is set in extensive mature grounds of sycamore, lime, beech and ornamental trees that were planted as part of the original philanthropic design, making it one of the richest single garden sites for beekeeping in the Inverclyde area. The Gryfe Water runs along the western edge, with hawthorn, alder and willow on the banks; the surrounding farmland carries mixed arable and improved pasture.
Collectors attend swarms in the mature estate sycamore and lime of the Quarriers Village grounds, particularly the older specimen trees around the principal cottages and the chapel, on the Gryfe Water bankside hawthorn and alder to the west of the village, in the orchard fragments and walled kitchen gardens of the original Victorian layout, and on the hawthorn hedgerows of the farmland between Quarriers and Bridge of Weir.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
CA6 4HN· approx. 146 km
Visit websiteCA13 0AU· approx. 157 km
CA24 3HZ· approx. 165 km
Visit websiteAssociation data sourced from the British Beekeepers Association directory via SwarmBase.
Sycamore is the dominant May flow tree throughout Inverclyde, lining the Victorian and Edwardian streets of Greenock and Port Glasgow and covering the steeper hillsides above the town in semi-natural woodland. White clover on the amenity grasslands, parks and road verges of the coastal towns is the main mid-summer crop from June through August. Hawthorn on the hedgerows of the agricultural land between Kilmacolm and Inverkip provides a strong May blossom flow. The Renfrewshire Heights above Greenock and Inverkip carry extensive heather moorland from mid-July through September — one of the most accessible upland heather grounds from the Glasgow conurbation, and a traditional destination for beekeepers moving colonies in late July. Himalayan balsam is establishing on the Kip Water and Gryfe corridors. Bramble on old quarry and railway embankment sites around Greenock provides a useful late-summer supplement. Gorse and broom on the hillside rough grazing above the coastal towns provides a sustained spring flow from April. Ivy on the older stone buildings and Victorian tenements closes the calendar in October.
More on beekeeping in InverclydeReport it in under a minute and a trained local beekeeper will arrange safe collection.
