FAQs

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.

Our first bottle of elderflower cordial was made in the Vale of Belvoir, almost 40 years ago, in the farmhouse kitchen of our owner, Pev. Elderflower spilled into Pev’s family garden so his mother, Mary Manners, decided to make some cordial for her family & friends, and his father, John Manners, started to sell small hand-made batches of the delicious cordial to local shops.

Today, our premium range extends from still cordials to gently sparkling drinks. Each crafted by taking simple ingredients with all the flavours of nature. We never use artificial flavours, colours or preservatives. We simply use our knack for traditional methods and let the natural flavours shine.

They must be fresh, so please deliver the flowers the same day you pick them, as they wilt very quickly and become unusable.

We will pay you £3.75 per kilo of elderflowers picked.

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. 

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.

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. 

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.

Yes we do! We come up with all our new flavours and ideas, and mix them here at Belvoir Farm in the Leicestershire countryside.

Despite its spelling, Belvoir is correctly pronounced “beever”.

Ready for a quick history lesson? Here we go… Home to the Duke and Duchess of Rutland, Belvoir Castle commands a magnificent view over the Vale of Belvoir. Robert de Todeni, Standard Bearer to William the Conqueror, clearly thought the same because when he built the first fortress here he named it “Bel voir”, French for “beautiful view”. Following the Norman Conquest in 1066, the ruling classes changed and Norman French was introduced. New settlements such as Belvoir, Beaulieu (“bewley”) and Alnwich (“anick”) were established, but their names became anglicised as only the nobility spoke and understood medieval French. It is unclear whether the decision to pronounce Belvoir as “beaver” was a direct snub by English traditionalists to the French invasion or whether it was simply because the Anglo-Saxons were unable to master the French tongue. Either way, whether you prefer to call our drinks “bel voir” or “beaver”, our main concern is that you enjoy them.

We put carefully selected, quality, simple ingredients into our drinks. All of our ingredients are carefully sourced from quality suppliers and are tasted by our juice experts before going into any of our drinks!

Absolutely! We would love for everyone to recycle our bottles and caps, and these can be put in your usual recycling waste. Our bottles are also made of recycled glass, so who knows, you might even be buying part of the same bottle again one day if you do recycle them!

Cordials: Our best before date is printed on the neck of our bottles, but typically will have about 12-18 months shelf life by the time you get your hands on them! Once opened, they should be consumed within 3 weeks. There are no chemical additives or preservatives in any of our cordials, only natural ingredients and juices, so if you leave them out of the fridge they will gradually start to ferment and grow mould, so remember to keep them chilled.

Sparkling: Again, the best before date is printed on the bottles or cans, but typically will have about 12-18 months shelf life. They are preservative-free and are made with natural ingredients and fruit juices so, after opening keep them in the fridge and drink within 3 days.

We use no ingredients that are directly animal based in our drinks. All of our range is suitable for vegetarians, and most are vegan. This is due to the fresh lemons we use in some of our syrups, which at the moment are waxed with shellac. All products that are suitable for vegans are clearly labelled on the back of pack.

All of our products are suitable for coeliacs – they do not contain any gluten.

Almost any food or drink product may cause an allergy in some people. None of Belvoir’s products contain any of the most common food allergens in Europe – these are:

Cereals containing gluten
Crustaceans and fish
Egg
Peanuts and tree nuts
Milk
Soya
Sesame
Celery
Mustard
Sulphur dioxide at levels greater than 10 parts per million

We try our hardest to ensure that none of our suppliers handle any of these ingredients, either. If you suffer from any unusual food allergy, we would recommend that you contact us before consuming our drinks. Please email [email protected]

Our products contain sugar or natural sugars from fruit juices.

Please check the sugar content of your drink on the back label and take advice from a healthcare provider regarding regulating your sugar intake if you suffer from diabetes.

All of our products contain natural ingredients, or ingredients from natural sources.

Preservatives: We do not use any chemical preservatives in our drinks. This means that once opened, the cordials should be stored in the fridge. They will eventually start to ferment after a couple of weeks at room temperature, although we find that they’re so delicious they don’t usually hang around that long.

Colours: We use no artificial colours in any of our products. We find that by using the very best quality pressed juice – and lots of it – we simply don’t need them. You may see some variation in the colour of our drinks due to seasonality – this is particularly true of the pale-coloured organic drinks, such as the Organic Elderflower Cordial. Our organic drinks tend to be darker than the equivalent non-organic drink, as our organic sugar is slightly browner than the non-organic sugar.

Flavours: We don’t use any artificial flavours in any of our drinks. We find that by using the best quality fruit juices and only natural extracts we just don’t need to use anything artificial. Each recipe is carefully created using only the best natural fruit juices and natural extracts to ensure that all our products taste lovely without compromise.

We do use citric acid in some of our drinks. This is used to make our drinks more acidic, which sharpens the flavour. Chemically, it’s identical to the acid that makes lemons and limes sour. Our citric acid is derived from maize.

Since 1995 we have been growing 60 acres of our own Organic Elderflower plantations, and we still ask the local community to hand-pick these to this day. These flowers go into our elderflower syrup before being made into the cordial and sparkling drinks that you know and love today.

We now have a range of organic products, including Ginger Beer and Ginger Cordial. All our organic drinks are certified by the Organic Food Federation.