Join pickers at Belvoir Farm’s elderflower harvest and celebrate 40 years of a homemade cordial

Grab a bag and head to the hedgerows to make cash in the countryside with Belvoir Farm’s elderflower harvest – and help celebrate 40 years of their homemade cordial which blossomed into something beautiful.

Delicate white elderflowers herald the start of summer and also Belvoir Farm’s unique elderflower harvest, where they call on the community to help pick the flowers needed for their iconic cordial.

This year’s harvest will be an extra special celebration as the Leicestershire drinks maker turns 40 and, with their flagship Elderflower Cordial still made to the same family recipe created by Mary Manners four decades ago, they’ll be marking the milestone birthday with a series of celebratory events in May and June.

Since the first bottle of Belvoir Farm’s now-famous elderflower cordial was made in Mary’s home kitchen in 1984, this once tiny farmhouse tipple has become one of the nation’s most popular drinks and their elderflower harvest continues to grow in both size and popularity each year.

Get picking in May and June

A great excuse to get out into the countryside and earn some extra cash, the crucial four-week blooming season when the flowers are at their best runs from the end of May throughout June. Picking takes place from Belvoir Farm’s own 60-acre organic plantation and wild hedgerows found across Leicestershire and the company’s bordering counties, and pickers are paid per kilo.

Belvoir Farm is known for its commitment to working closely with nature, respecting the countryside and supporting sustainable farming. With the business now run by Mary’s son Pev, they rely on traditional methods of hand picking, blending and infusing, bottling a sip of the English countryside with absolutely nothing artificial and all in recyclable packaging.

This is a landmark year for our business and elderflower harvest, and I’m incredibly proud of our team and what we’ve achieved. We’ve always chosen to make our drinks the proper way, not the easy way, and we get an incredible response from the community, with some of our original elderflower pickers from the early years still coming back to get involved. Whether you’re a seasoned or first-time picker, we’d love to welcome you to the farm to experience this special occasion.

Pev

Dates and collection points

Elderflower harvest season ensures product freshness and pickers will be encouraged to pick and drop-off to Belvoir Farm’s weighing stations on the same day. Pickers are paid in cash (£3.50 per kilo) once the elderflowers have been weighed and verified.

Collections will start from May 18, with collection points for pickers to bring their elderflowers at:

· Belvoir Farm, Barketstone Lane, Bottesford, NG13 0DH (Collection times: Monday – Saturday, 2pm – 6pm)

· Sacrewell Farm & Countryside Centre, Thornhaugh, Peterbrough, PE8 6HJ (Collection times: Monday – Saturday, 2.30pm – 5pm)

To find out more about the Belvoir Farm 2024 Elderflower Harvest, visit www.belvoirfarm.co.uk