Hot spell prompts urgent plea from drinks maker for help with elderflower harvest in Peterborough countryside

An urgent call has gone out for volunteers in Peterborough to help pick the elderflower harvest for a national drinks maker.

The call comes from bosses at Belvoir Farm who say the unexpected extreme weather this week has meant they have brought forward its annual community elderflower harvest by two weeks.

Now they have issued an appeal for help from the local community to get involved earlier than expected – on May 19.

Normally the harvest of the wild hedgerows found across the Peterborough area is held in June.

Pev Manners, managing director of Belvoir Farm, which also has its own 60 acre organic plantation,.said: “The sudden weather change, coupled with the driest March in 60 years has meant that the English elderflower blooms that herald the start of summer are already well on their way.

"We're in our 41st year of harvest and it's always a challenging time with weather conditions.

"Last year was the sixth wettest spring on record, but this year it's been the driest March in 60 years and we've gone from monsoon conditions earlier in the year to a drought where we only had 7mm of rain last month.

“We’re having to water the elderflowers with reclaimed water from our barn roofs and because of this warmer sun, the flowers are starting to bud and we’ve had to bring the harvest forward by a couple of weeks.

"As a result, we’re asking our amazing local community to roll up their sleeves, get picking and bring in the harvest earlier much earlier this year.”

The elderflower harvest will run for five to six weeks.

The drop off point for the elderflowers is Sacrewell Farm and Country Centre, at Thornhaugh.

Pickers who take part will be paid for every kilo of flowers they pick.

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.