Plenty of good news around at the moment: It’s our twenty-fifth birthday, the sun has got his hat on and Andymonium is in full swing as the super Scot reaches the semi-finals at SW19.

And here’s some more good news – it’s competition time!

The Great Belvoir Buffet

So let’s suppose we were inviting thousands of you to our big birthday bash. We’d take care of the soft drinks, obviously. But we’d like you all to bring a plate of Belvoir-related nosh. Or a jug of your best cordial-infused cocktail.

What would you bring?

Perhaps a tasty cheesecake that makes splendid use of our elderflower cordial? Or maybe some lime & lemongrass muffins? You might have your own twist on the Dragon’s Breath cocktail that you’d like the world to sample.

You don’t to need to be the world’s best chef. We’re just looking for ideas – or even novel ways of presenting them.

Feel free to include recipes with your suggestions, or – since it’s become a theme here at Belvoir On For Britain – deliver them using verse and rhyme.

To be in with a chance of winning, just pop your suggestion into the comment box below.

Five lucky winners will each receive a limited edition Belvoir Fruit Farms cordial jug, a box of Belvoir tumblers and we’ll throw in a bottle of cordial to fill them, too.

Good luck!

(Not very interesting terms and conditions can be found here.)

It’s not often you get to nibble at an elephant’s bottom, but here at Belvoir Fruit Farms we’ve been doing it for twenty-five years.

Don’t worry, such peculiar metaphors won’t get us fired. Because believe it or not, we’re paraphrasing Pev Manners, our beloved MD.

Pev’s ‘elephant’ is the adult soft drinks market – a multi-million pound industry. And although our company has grown tremendously in the last quarter of a century, Pev insists that Belvoir Fruit Farms is only nibbling at that big elephant’s bottom.

Elephants’ behinds aside, how did Belvoir Fruit Farms become a much loved addition to cupboards and (once opened) fridges across the world? On our twenty-fifth anniversary, we thought we’d shed some light on the history of our delightful drinks.

Once upon a time

The Belvoir Fruit Farms story begins a long time ago, in the Manners family kitchen. It was here a very young Pev and his sisters would help their mother, Lady Mary Manners, infuse the blossoms they had picked from wild elderflower trees around the family farm.

“I remember mum and dad dashing back home from Royal Ascot every year, getting out of their smart clothes, donning dungarees, then we’d all jump into the cars and set off to scour the country for elderflower blossoms,” recalls Pev. “Nanny would stay at home to slice the lemons and a farm hand would mix the sugar and water. We’d return with the elderflowers, looking like we’d been in a yellow snow storm because of all the pollen.”

“We made elderflower cordial for just ourselves and family and friends. But it became so popular that people would beg, steal and borrow to get hold of a bottle. At the time our pick-your-own fruit farm wasn’t doing terribly well and so my father decided we should try our hand at selling the cordial, making us the first company to go into commercial production of elderflower cordial.”

So in 1984 we began trading as Belvoir Fruit Farms and selling our naturally delicious elderflower cordial. Virgin Atlantic had just made its inaugural flight from Gatwick to Newark Liberty, and the world was under a repressive, totalitarian regime led by Big Brother [you’ve been reading too many books – Ed].

Pev’s father, Lord John, would pack boxes of hand-made cordial into the boot of his car and set off to visit local delicatessens and farm shops to cut a deal. He made an unlikely salesman in his country tweeds and battered Mercedes, complete with the family dog and wheat literally growing in the boot!.

In that first year, we shifted eighty-eight cases of cordial (with each case holding twelve bottles).

Here comes the son

Pev joined Belvoir Fruit Farms full-time in 1992 and soon after, together with his father, took the decision to close the fruit farm and PYO business to focus exclusively on the burgeoning drinks company.

Production has long since moved out of the family kitchen and down to the fruit farm, located on the beautiful estate of Belvoir Castle in Grantham, Lincolnshire (home to Pev’s cousin, the Duke of Rutland). ‘Nanny’ has also been replaced by former shepherdess Phyllis Howitt, who arrived on the farm to do some casual work in 1984 – and never left. Phyllis still single-handedly makes all the products today, infusing the elderflowers in huge vats (purchased from an old cheese farm) and hand pressing all the fruit.

The recipe for the elderflower cordial is still the same as the one Pev’s mother used to make. It was given to her by her friend Lady Astor of Cliveden and it’s rumoured that it was a firm favourite amongst the 50s and 60s socialites frequenting the Italianate stately home.

“It’s a clean, fresh drink, but with the complexity of wine,” says Pev. “People want traditional products; something that’s natural but tastes great too.”

Elderflower still remains the bulk of the business and demand is so great that orders are dispatched across Europe, America, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Hong Kong, Japan and Korea.

Drinking to the future

Lots of things have changed in twenty-five years, but our commitment to using only natural goodness has never wavered. All the drinks, which include an organic range, are 100% natural and free from artificial flavours, sweeteners, colours, preservatives or any other nasties.

The Belvoir Fruit Farms range now includes fifteen cordial varieties, nine pressés and five Good Stuff juice drinks. And although the fruits and flowers vary from bottle to bottle, one ingredient (the key to the magic of Belvoir) remains the same – spring water. It’s been naturally filtered through limestone for centuries and is at the heart of all the Belvoir Fruit Farms range.

This year, we’ll sell nine million bottles of our lovely little drinks. A big thank you from Pev and all the team if you’ve bought one – we promise we’ll never rest on our laurels. (This year we’ve already released two new new twists on our famous elderflower recipe.)

Meaning that next year, we’ll still be nibbling at that elephant’s big old bottom.

Happy 25th Birthday Belvoir!

Maybe it’s our fault. Maybe we were drunk on sunshine. Those two weekends of gorgeous weather that graced us a few weeks ago must’ve made us a bit giddy with excitement. You see, it was during those sun drenched days we came up with the idea of the Belvoir On For Britain Flower Show. We sat back and imagined all these wonderful sunny pictures flooding into the Belvoir Fruit Farms inbox.

And then it clouded over, turned cold and started raining.

So we understand if you haven’t had a chance to take a photo of you and your garden for the competition. But don’t worry. You’ve still got two weeks to capture your back yard in full bloom. And we’re sure the sun’ll come out tomorrow (tomorrow, bet ya bottom dollar…etc).

And even if it doesn’t, you’re a talented bunch so we’re sure you’ll come up with a splendidly creative way to take a good floral snap in the absence of sun.

Once you’ve taken your picture, send it to photos@belvoirfruitfarms.co.uk. Remember: two lucky winners will win a pair of tickets each to RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show on Saturday 11th July.

Picnic rucksack competition winners

We’ve been trawling through all your entries for April’s picnic competition over the last few days and have picked our favourite five.

And here they are. Congratulations to them. And a big thank you to everyone who took the time to enter. We sincerely appreciate your efforts.

Deborah went for a very English approach, including the much underrated hard-boiled egg in her picnic. A terrific choice, we thought.

A picnic for St George’s Day,
By the river, a sunny day,
To a pretty Cotswold town I’d go,
Still & quiet, just me & my beau,
Home-made sandwiches, hard-boiled eggs,
Sausage rolls & chicken legs,
And at the end, to help us digest,
Some Belvoir cordial – Ginger’s best!

A few Sherlock Holmes wannabes in the office think Yvonne is giving her nationality away in the first sentence of her winning entry. We’re inclined to agree.

My ideal picnic would be next to the loch with my wee daughter. We would have ham sandwiches, sausage rolls, fruit, any other foods that take our fancy and Pear & Elderflower Pressé to wash it down with. After our food we would feed the swans and ducks, then I would let my daughter play at the little park. And before we head home we would stop of for an ice cream.

Lorna puts Bono in his place and brings a Bear along as a contingency plan. Superb!

As nice as Scotland is for picnics – generally it ends up with everyone sitting in the car munching on soggy sandwiches waiting for the rain to go off so we can rescue the soaking wet tartan blanket – my ideal picnic would have to be on a huge yacht in the middle of a turquoise sea – sounds nice eh!! We would be eating prawn cocktail, then black forrest gateau for dessert ,washed down with a huge Dragon’s breath cocktail. Padraig Harrington would be there teaching us a thing or two on the onboard golf course (as you do) and just because he looks really nice. U2 would be singing for us, but Bono would be banned from talking and of course we couldn’t leave out Bear Grylls incase we ended up shipwrecked on an island and had to live off berries and frogs.

Kerry dreams of Belvoir, dashes around au naturel and then heads off on a picnic – all in one wonderfully epic poem!

BY GEORGE! LET’S HAVE A PICNIC!

In my dreams, I’m packing hampers,
Filled with caviar, Belvoir and champers.
A handsome prince in a sweeping cape,
Moistens his lips with some Muscat Grape,
Before carrying me off on his dashing white horse,
To enjoy a fruitsome picnic of course after course.
He holds my hand as we sip chilled Belvoir,
Before crushing me juicily with ardent “fervoir”!
But, alas! Alack! My alarm clock goes!
Where are my maidenly, demure, wee clothes?
I dash to the mirror-what a bummer!
I’m an ordinary mum in the British summer.
I pack my cool bag and summon my kids,
I ensure all my presses have nice tight lids.
We jump in the car, setting off at full throttle,
Before stopping to sip from our Belvoir bottles.
We’ve Dragon’s Breath Cocktails, they’re fruity and fun,
We eat soggy sandwiches and stroll in the sun.
We’re fortified by flavinoids, we never feel annoyed,
Our entente is so cordiale at the day we’ve just enjoyed.
The bairns are bathed, we’re home at last, the picnic’s packed away,
Belvoir’s brought its sparkle to another summer day!

Nicola would talk cathedral construction and the Chronicles of Barsetshire over cucumber sandwiches and cordial down by the Cam.

Dream picnic?
I’d love a lazy sunday lunch with Sir Christopher Wren on the backs in Cambridge. It’d be good to get author Anthony Trollope and my favourite monarch Richard III along too. And who could resist a guest appearance from Colin Firth?
I reckon they’d like the traditional picnic fare – cucumber sandwiches and strawberries and cream washed down with ginger cordial.
With all that talent we could discuss everything under the sun, literally. Perfect.

The last time dear Blightly was in a recession, ITV decided to cheer everyone up by screening The Darling Buds of May. The show, based on the novels of Herbert Ernest Bates (a name to which we doff our bottle caps), follows the shenanigans of the loveable Larkin family on their farm in Kent. It starred the much-loved David Jason as Pop Larkin and launched the career of a little known Welsh lass called Catherine Zeta-Jones (who, as Mariette, ended up marrying a taxman – the poor thing). Re-run it, we say.

The larger than life Larkin family would no doubt approve of British Sandwich Week, which is currently in full swing. And as farmers, they’d probably opt for a classic ploughman’s. But according to The British Sandwich Association (who else?), a ploughman’s only ranks at eight in the top ten sarnie fillings favoured by us Brits. And, perhaps shockingly, there’s no place for cheese and pickle in the list. Here it is in full:

1. Chicken Salad
2. Mixed Selection
3. Chicken & Bacon
4. Bacon/Lettuce/Tomato
5. Prawn Mayonnaise
6. Chicken & Stuffing
7. Egg & Cress
8. Ploughman’s
9. Cheese & Onion
10. Chicken Caesar

We’re guessing a ‘mixed selection’ is one of those three-sandwich packets found in petrol stations across the country where you get two fillings you like and one that you don’t. But as Meat Loaf once bellowed, Two Out Of Three Ain’t Bad.

One filling that rarely graces the Esso forecourts is Strawberry, Clotted Cream and Rose Petal. What a delightful sandwich! And we think we’ve got the perfect accompaniment….

Belvoir’s Raspberry and Rose Cordial

Belvoir’s Raspberry & Rose Cordial is a sweet, sensuous drink, packed with raspberries grown on UK farms and hand pressed by us. It’s perfect to quaff on long summer days as ripe raspberries help combat heat and thirst. Alternatively, use it as a base for cocktails: Try mixing 50ml gin, 75ml of lychee juice and 15ml of Raspberry & Rose cordial for a delicious Raspberry Blush.

Mythology says that raspberries used to be white. Things changed when a clumsy nymph,  furiously picking the fruit to appease a particular god’s rage, pricked her finger on a thorn. Blood spilled from her digit, forever turning the raspberries red. But don’t let that put you off. Roses are believed to make potent love potions, so Belvoir’s cordial balances not only taste perfectly, but also the anger of the gods.

In days gone by, raspberry juice was used to calm fever and gargling it would ease a sore throat. Raspberry syrup was said to dissolve tartar on teeth, too. So as well as making you feel better, your smile would be a couple of notches brighter.

Raspberries are high in querticin (whatever that is) and antioxidants which can provide a natural cure for hay fever.  Raspberry juice has reputed benefits for eye problems, mouth ulcers, toning the uterine muscles in pregnancy and is great for detox.

(Please note: Belvoir Fruit Farms is neither a doctor nor dentist; we are merely reporting herbal lore for the fruits and flowers in our products. We recommend you consult a medical specialist before declaring never to buy Lemsip, spectacles, Bonjela or toothpaste ever again.)

As for the rose petals, their scent is said to have an uplifting, restoring effect on the nervous system, and can relieve insomnia, lift depression, dispel fatigue and soothe irritability.

Of course, you don’t have to feel under the weather to buy our Raspberry and Rose cordial, it’s just as tasty even if you’re feeling right as rain. Speaking of which, where did those first signs up summer go?