Belvoir Farm scoops national award as annual elderflower harvest comes to a close on friday

The award comes as the farm enters the final few days of its popular annual elderflower harvest, that uniquely invites the local community to pick flowers in return for cash payment. This year has seen hundreds of people from across Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Rutland and Cambridgeshire head outdoors to harvest the delicate white flowers that are key to Belvoir Farm’s famous cordial.

Owner Pev Manners, whose mother Mary created the original cordial recipe over 40 years ago, said: “It’s a real honour to receive this award and it feels especially meaningful right now, as local families, friends and neighbours are out picking flowers and making this harvest a huge success. Community is at the heart of what we do.”

Thanks to the warm weather, the harvest got off to a flying start, two weeks ahead of schedule and will finish this Friday, with local pickers still welcome to take part and earn £3.50 per kilo or £50 per bin bag of flowers picked and delivered to Belvoir Farm, Barkestone Lane, Bottesford NG13 0DH between 2pm - 6pm.

The farm remains the only UK drinks company using fresh elderflowers, which are infused within 24 hours of picking with sugar, water and pressed lemon juice for a delicious taste of the British countryside and absolutely nothing artificial.

This year’s harvest ambassador is local food & travel writer Karen Burns-Booth of Lavender & Lovage, who praised the harvest as a “seasonal tradition that brings people together and celebrates what makes our region so special.”

With the harvest’s final days approaching, there’s still time for locals to get involved in bottling a bit of summer. Belvoir Farm encourages safe, respectful foraging - away from sprayed fields and roadsides - and asks that flowers be dropped off the day they are picked to maintain freshness. For more information, visit https://belvoirfarm.co.uk/about-us/elderflower-harvest/get-involved/.