Chertsey is a historic town on the south bank of the Thames in the Runnymede borough of Surrey, the site of the medieval Chertsey Abbey and close to the open meadows of Runnymede and the wooded slopes of St Ann's Hill. The Weybridge and Kingston divisions of Surrey BKA cover the town and the riverside. Willows and blackthorn along the Thames flood plain open the season in March; horse chestnut and sycamore in the old town streets follow; the field maple and lime of Chertsey Meads and the Abbey riverside meadows deliver a June flow; and the rough grassland of St Ann's Hill nature reserve contributes wild thyme, vetch and bramble well into late summer.
Collectors attend swarms in the mature limes and horse chestnuts around the Abbey Road conservation area and the old market square, in the pollarded willows and elder scrub along the Thames riverside path, in the garden trees and ivy-clad walls of the older residential streets near St Peter's church, and in the hedgerow thorn of the lanes towards Ottershaw and Addlestone.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
KT15 2QJ· approx. 1 km
Visit websiteKT8 0AG· approx. 11 km
Visit websiteSL4 3AX· approx. 12 km
Visit websiteAssociation data sourced from the British Beekeepers Association directory via SwarmBase.
Spring builds fast on blackthorn, hawthorn and horse chestnut along the North Downs scarp, then leans heavily on field maple, sycamore and the urban lime avenues of Guildford, Dorking and Woking. The lowland heaths — Chobham, Frensham, Thursley — give a late bell heather crop in good Augusts that colonies here can count on, supplemented by rosebay willowherb across the MoD training land. Bramble is dense from Box Hill to the Surrey Hills AONB, and the old walled churchyards carry a strong ivy flow into autumn.
More on beekeeping in SurreyReport it in under a minute and a trained local beekeeper will arrange safe collection.
