Vale of Belvoir-based drinks maker pleas for help to bring in elderflower harvest

By the end of the month, Belvoir Fruit Farms, based in the Vale of Belvoir, expects to have started its annual campaign to gather in the many tonnes of elderflower that go into the manufacturer’s award-winning elderflower cordial.

The company says it requires eight elderflower heads for each bottle of the cordial it produces.

It expects to turn out 450,000 bottles of the cordial, which means it will need to pick 3.6 million flower heads to keep up with demand for its drinks - a total of 60 tonnes of elderflowers.

Pev Manners, managing director of Belvoir Fruit Farms, said: “It’s a clean, fresh drink, but with the complexity of wine.

“The secret of a really good elderflower cordial is to use masses of flowers that have been picked in the sunshine when they are warm and heavy with yellow pollen, then get them into the vat within three hours.

“It’s a race against time and nature to capture as many of those pollen-packed blossoms as possible, vital as they are for the creation of our award-winning elderflower cordial.

“It is the busiest time of year for us.

“That’s why Belvoir has all hands to the pumps from the end of May and throughout June.

“Company staff are out from morning to night with hundreds of locals, who answer the clarion call to join the short six-week harvest before Mother Nature moves onto the next stage of her irrepressible life cycle.”

Anyone who would like to join Belvoir Fruit Farms’ Elderflower Harvest should visit www.belvoirfruitfarms.co.uk for more details about collection arrangements.