Lyddington is a well-preserved ironstone village in south Rutland, set along a single broad street between Uppingham and Caldecott. Its most prominent landmark is the medieval Bede House — a former bishop's palace turned almshouse, now in the care of English Heritage — whose buttressed walls and walled gardens anchor the village green. The hedged pastures, old orchards and the willowherb-rich margins of the Welland valley below give local honey bees a productive season from early blackthorn to late ivy.
Collectors are called to swarms in the yew and lime of St Andrew's churchyard, in the cottage garden apple trees and ironstone wall cavities along the main street, around the sheltered walled enclosure of the Bede House grounds, and in the hedgerow hawthorns on the Seaton Road heading south towards the Welland.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
PE9 4HZ· approx. 21 km
Visit websiteNN3 7AX· approx. 32 km
Visit websitePE7 3BN· approx. 33 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.
