Our Elderflower Harvest
June is a big month here in the Vale of Belvoir. For six glorious weeks, the surrounding hedgerows come alive with sweet-smelling wild elderflower and our own 60 acres of organic elderflower burst into bloom.
The Belvoir Farm team, and some loyal local pickers, know when it’s the perfect time to harvest the large – headed flowers, warmed by the sun and heavy with dusky yellow pollen. The local community are truly special, and without them coming to handpick the flowers that go into each bottle every year, we wouldn’t be able to create our delicious elderflower drinks.
How it works
Farm
Our team cares for the elder trees on our 60-acre plantation all year round, nurturing them through the seasons to ensure a healthy, abundant harvest when summer arrives.
How It Works
Pick
When the flowers have bloomed and are heavy with dusky yellow pollen, they are ready to harvest.
Our team and the local community come together to hand pick organic elderflowers from our plantation and wild elderflowers from the hedgerows across Leicestershire and the company’s three bordering counties. The local community are truly special, and without them coming to handpick the flowers that go into each bottle every year, we wouldn’t be able to create our delicious elderflower drinks.
How it works
Collect
Once the flowers have been picked, they’re collected by our team, weighed and verified, and pickers get paid by the kilo for their efforts. So they can pocket some cash, get walking in the fresh air and reconnect with nature all at the same time.
And pickers can be reassured that Belvoir Farm, with their own sustainable farming methods and Countryside Stewardship practices, always give at least as much back to the land as they harvest.
How It Works
Craft
Within 24 hours of harvesting, the flower heads are poured into a vat and hand-stirred gently to make elderflower syrup that goes into all our elderflower drinks.
The family recipe hasn’t changed in over 40 years, just masses of hand picked elderflowers, sugar and water. As a soft drink, a recipe ingredient or a delicious splash to cocktails and mocktails, it stands the test of time!
How it works
Enjoy
The elderflower infusion we make from the harvest is then used in all our elderflower drinks, from our iconic Elderflower Cordial, to our new Hugo Spritz mocktail. Meaning our delicious drinks are literally a sip of the glorious British countryside.
Explore our full range of naturally delicious drinks.
Get Involved
The countdown is on until our annual elderflower harvest!
Only Nature knows when the elderflower will be ready for picking but our Elderflower Harvest is usually in the last week of May and into late June. Keep checking in for the exact dates – we’ll post them just as soon as we’re sure.
Sustainability
Crafted with Nature is more than just a slogan for us; it speaks of the Belvoir Farm, our own organic elderflower and our simple ingredients we carefully select. We only ever choose real ingredients, and we never use artificial additives in our premium soft drinks, that’s our promise. Over the years, we have expanded our drinks range in flavours, now producing over 40 award-winning products. To top it all off, Belvoir Farm is still owned and run by the Manners family. This is all just a part of our story.
FAQs
The elderflower infusion we make from the Elderflower Harvest is used in all our elderflower drinks, from our iconic Elderflower Cordial to our new Hugo Spritz Mocktail. Meaning our delicious drinks are literally a sip of the British countryside.
Only Nature knows when the elderflower will be ready for picking but it’s usually in the last week of May and into late June. Keep checking in for the exact dates – we’ll post them just as soon as we’re sure.
We will pay you £3.75 per kilo of elderflowers picked.
You can pick wild elderflowers from surrounding hedgerows or organic elderflowers from our own 60 acres plantation.
Of course, we only encourage you to pick from private land, where permission has been obtained both for them to be there and to pick the elderflowers. Please follow the countryside code when picking.
All you need is a bin bag to put the flowers in and some good walking boots. We advise you to wear long trousers so you don’t get stung by nasty nettles.
No, unfortunately not. Whilst we wholeheartedly encourage children to get out into nature we cannot pay anyone under the age of 16 to pick elderflowers for our drinks.
They must be fresh, so please deliver the flowers the same day you pick them, as they wilt very quickly and become unusable.
Please trust that with our Countryside Stewardship membership and modern farming practices, we always work hard to put back at least as much as we take when harvesting from the hedgerows.