New appeal for volunteer pickers in Melton to bring in elderflower harvest for Belvoir Fruit Farms

An urgent appeal has gone from a Vale of Belvoir drinks maker which is looking for volunteers to help with the elderflower harvest.

The call comes from Belvoir Fruit Farms, in Bottesford, which has a window of just six weeks to pick the elderflower as it blossoms.

The annual harvest takes place from Belvoir’s own 60 acre organic plantation and the wild surrounding hedgerows found across Leicestershire and the company’s three bordering counties.

Pev Manners, managing director of Belvoir Fruit Farms, said: “Each year we have an incredible response from people around Leicestershire and our bordering counties.

"Whether you’re an annual picker or a first-time volunteer, we’re really encouraging the local community to get involved so we can gather the volume of elderflowers needed for our much-loved drinks.”

The harvest season runs from the end of May for five to six weeks and, to ensure product freshness, pickers will be encouraged to pick and drop-off on the same day.

As in previous years, pickers will be paid in cash once the elderflowers have been weighed and verified.

Pickers who take part in the harvest will be paid by the kilo for their efforts.

The drop-off point for the elderflowers is Belvoir Farm in Barkestone Lane, Bottesford.

Mr Manners said: “Pickers can be reassured that Belvoir Farm, with its own sustainable farming methods and Countryside Stewardship practices, always gives at least as much back to the land as we harvest.”

Elderflower inspired the first drink Belvoir Farm created more than 40 years ago and its signature cordial is still made to the same traditional family recipe.

From just one cordial, the range has grown to include over 30 soft drinks, all bottled at the Bottesford plant and shipped around the UK and across the world.

This year’s harvest also ties into the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, with two limited edition ‘Best of British’ bottles designed to house Belvoir’s classic Elderflower Cordial and Sparkling Elderflower.