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Volunteer elderflower pickers in Peterborough have been praised for helping bring in a bumper harvest for a national soft drinks maker.

Hundreds of people turned out to pick elderflowers from countryside hedgerows for Belvoir Farm, which turns them into its signature elderflower cordial that is sold in supermarkets, garden centres and other outlets across the UK.

And this year, the volunteers won extra praise after challenging weather conditions took two weeks off the traditional elderflower harvest.

ITV's This Morning gardening expert Daisy Payne, who helped with the elderflower harvest, with Belvoir Farm’s Pev Manners; Mr Manners with the Lord Lieutenant of Leicestershire Mike Kapur; the bottling process at Belvoir Farm

Appeal for volunteer pickers in Peterborough

Pev Manners, managing director of Belvoir Farm, near Melton Mowbray, said: “Despite worries about this year’s harvest, we’ve actually had one of our biggest harvests ever.

"The weather was bizarre, not like anything we’ve ever seen before in 40 years of picking flowers and making our cordial.

“There was a February drought, then we had six months’ worth of rain in one month. We were glad for the sunshine when it finally appeared, but then the hot sun made the flowers brown very quickly and when this happens, they can’t be used.

Mr Manners said: “It was a race against time to get all the flowers picked.”

“It’s always a challenge when we start our harvest.

"Uniquely, we work with the local community to collect flowers, in exchange for cash.

"That was another reason for the bumper harvest, the dedicated people who come on board to help earn essential extra income and help us pick every elderflower.”

Praise for volunteer elderflower pickers in Peterborough as drinks maker enjoys bumper harvest