Ketton is a handsome limestone village in east Rutland, close to the Lincolnshire border, best known for its twelfth-century priory church and the Ketton Cement Works whose rough quarry edges and calcareous grassland give surprisingly rich summer forage. The Chater valley farmland and hedgerow-rich pastures surrounding the village provide bramble, white clover and field maple, while the estate woodland at Geeston adds a quiet sycamore flow in May.
Local collectors are called to swarms in the tall hedge oaks along the Stamford Road, in the mature garden trees of older properties near the priory church, in the sheltered limestone cottage gardens along the High Street, and occasionally in the rough vegetation on the disused quarry banks and calcareous scrub south of the village.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
PE9 4HZ· approx. 9 km
Visit websitePE7 3BN· approx. 24 km
Visit websiteNG318JS· approx. 35 km
Visit websiteAssociation data sourced from the British Beekeepers Association directory via SwarmBase.
The season opens on blackthorn and hawthorn along the ancient limestone hedgerows, followed by sycamore and oilseed rape across the arable fields east of Oakham and Ketton. Lime flowers well in both market towns in June; white clover and field margins carry colonies through July. The reservoir shore at Rutland Water supports willowherb and wild angelica into late summer, and field maple, bramble and ivy on the churchyard walls close the year through October and November.
More on beekeeping in RutlandReport it in under a minute and a trained local beekeeper will arrange safe collection.
