Shining brightly at the Great Taste Awards

Have you entered our Bright Star competition yet? We’re just about to top 500 entries. If your name isn’t in the hat already, click here to enter. Remember: you could be the lucky winner who bags a stay at the exquisite Maison Talbooth in Constable Country. How very delightful.

Speaking of winning, Belvoir Fruit Farms is very proud to the be the recipient of two Great Taste 2009 Awards from The Guild of Fine Food.

Our brand new Elderflower, Gooseberry and Muscat Grape cordial grabbed a gold star just months after hitting the shelves. And Belvoir’s Lime & Lemongrass Pressé was also awarded a gold star by the panel of fine food retailers, chefs, restaurant critics, food writers and other industry experts.

The team at Belvoir Fruit Farms works tirelessly to bring you our range of delicious drinks, so it’s great to be officially considered “close to perfect”. Pats on the back all round then.

Such is our success, we’ll be sharing our drinks with royalty soon.

An evening with Queen

On Friday 4th September, the Belvoir Fruit Farms trailer (pictured above) will roll into the grounds of Harewood House in Leeds, home to the Queen’s cousin, the Earl of Harewood, for what promises to be a magnifico (oh oh oh oh) night of music. Come and visit us, speak to the team and try our award-winning cordials and pressés.

The evening’s entertainment, The Music Of Queen – A Rock & Symphonic Spectacular, presents you and your family with an opportunity to hear the classic songs of Mercury, May, Taylor and Deacon sung by stars from the West End smash hit musical We Will Rock You with the backing of a 60-piece symphony orchestra and full rock band. It should be fantastic – let’s just hope the stage is big enough for all those performers!

This open air concert is a great chance for a final picnic this summer. So why not bring your cheese and crackers, Victoria sponge and bottle of Belvoir in one of these wonderful wicker picnic hampers available at Swings & Pretty Things?

It sounds like a perfect evening to us. And if you can’t make it to Leeds, why not take your family and friends for a picnic in one of Britain’s best spots?

Have fun!

Thanks again to everybody who entered our Belvoir On For Britain ‘Perfect Picnic’ competition. Winners have been announced, but don’t despair if your entry wasn’t chosen; we’ll be running plenty more competitions throughout the year. A new one will be announced next week, in fact.

In the meantime, let’s ponder what could be this summer’s most perfect of picnics. It’s on Sunday, 5th July and it’ll take place on Aorangi Terrace.

Any idea why?

Want to hazard a guess?

Okay, here’s a clue: It’d probably involve strawberries and cream washed down with Belvoir’s traditional organic lemonade.

Any closer?

Or still scratching your head?

You probably know exactly what Aorangi Terrace is. And, indeed, where it is. But here’s the twist: You probably don’t know it as Aorangi Terrace.

Baffled?

What if we told you the word Aorangi is the Maori spelling of Aoraki – the official name for Mount Cook, the highest mountain in New Zealand.

Does that help?

Maybe not – but Aorangi Terrace is sloped, too.

And perhaps the reason this slope is named after a mountain in New Zealand is because it was used by the London New Zealand Rugby Club. That was until 1981, when the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club asked for it back.

Solved it?

Yes, Aorangi Terrace is in Wimbledon. It’s the slope where fans gather with picnics to watch the big games on a massive TV screen. You might call it Henman Hill, Murray Mound or even Rusedski Ridge (awfully sorry, Greg – but we don’t think many people do).

Monday saw the return of SW19’s big tennis competition for another thrilling fortnight. Expect glorious sun followed by intermittent showers and lots of hyperbole about Blighty’s own Andy Murray.

After Murray’s win at Queen’s, expectation for him to take the men’s title at Wimbledon is so high it’s vertigo inducing. The press have dubbed it – quite brilliantly, may we add – ‘Andymonium’.

He’ll have to get past the brilliant Federer, but if Murray does do it, he’ll be the first Briton to lift the trophy since Fred Perry was victorious on the hallowed grass courts in 1936.

And we’ll be raising a glass of elderflower champagne to the lad.

Do you think Murray can win? Are you attending this year’s tournament? Will you be picnicking on Sunday 5th July on Aorangi Terrace / Henman Hill / Murray Mound / Rusedski Ridge ?

Let us know in the comments!