Castle Donington is a lively village and small town on the Leicestershire and Derbyshire border, best known today as the home of Donington Park motor racing circuit and the East Midlands Airport, but long established as a market centre on the Trent flood plain beneath the former Donington Castle earthworks. The River Trent and its tributary the Swift form a broad flood meadow and riverside corridor to the north and west, carrying willow, alder and the wet grassland wildflowers that support a long season for honey bees. Hawthorn-lined hedges and oilseed rape dominate the surrounding arable; lime and horse chestnut stand in the older village streets; bramble and rosebay willowherb are heavy on the greenbelt margins and the airport perimeter grassland.
Local collectors attend swarms in the lime and horse chestnut trees of the older village streets and the Market Place, along the Trent riverside willow and alder carr north of the village toward Hemington, in the hawthorn hedgerows and farm garden eaves between Castle Donington and Isley Walton, and in the garden outbuildings and roof spaces of the brick-built Victorian and inter-war cottages near the church.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
DE13 0BN· approx. 18 km
Visit websiteDE55 7LX· approx. 31 km
Visit websiteNG15 9GA· approx. 31 km
Visit websiteAssociation data sourced from the British Beekeepers Association directory via SwarmBase.
Oilseed rape and field beans drive the arable flow. Sycamore and horse chestnut in the market towns build the mid-May crop; lime dominates June in Leicester, Loughborough and Market Harborough. Charnwood brings sweet chestnut, bracken and patches of bilberry; Bradgate and Belvoir parks add ancient lime and oak. Bramble is universal; rosebay willowherb fills ex-quarry ground around Mountsorrel. Ivy on the red-brick farmhouses and old pub gardens closes the season strongly.
More on beekeeping in LeicestershireReport it in under a minute and a trained local beekeeper will arrange safe collection.
