Hello everyone.

Here on the farm we’ve been dipping our digital toes into Twitter recently, saying hello to lots of people and receiving some terribly nice comments about our drinks – thank you, everybody.

We’ve also been getting some good questions too. Sam asked us if we’ve got any new flavours planned. Well, we’re always keen on creating some delicious new concoctions, but alas there are no confirmed new varieties as yet. But watch this space.

(You may remember that we released two new flavours earlier this year: Gooseberry, Elderflower and Muscat Grape Cordial and Pear and Elderflower Pressé.)

Nevertheless, we’ve been giving your old favourites a new twist by commissioning some exquisite new cocktail recipes especially for the wedding season. So if matrimony is just around the corner and you haven’t decided on arrival drinks or the wedding toast, allow us to offer a few alcoholic and non-alcoholic suggestions:

Elderflower & Champagne

The Elderflower & Champagne cocktail is a refreshing little number – perfect for a garden or summer evening reception. As the champagne bubbles pop, you’re left with the romantic scent of fresh elderflowers. What’s more, it’s delightfully simple to make – just add 15ml of cordial to a champagne flute and top with bubbly. Cheers!

Elderflower Fizz

It’s often easy to forget the non-drinkers (especially if you’re getting squiffy on champers). So why not give them a treat too? Elderflower Fizz is a light and tangy non-alcoholic cocktail, full of colour and fragrance. Pour 20ml of Belvoir elderflower cordial, 50ml pink grapefruit juice and 50ml cloudy lemonade over ice in a hi-ball glass. Then stir and serve with three freshly squeezed lime wedges. And for a unique finishing touch, throw in a few flower heads (pansies are perfect) to decorate.

White Flower Martini

If you want to be a little more adventurous, try the White Flower Martini. Its layered fruit and flower flavours will impress your guests and be a hit with even the most discerning palates. Pour 15ml of Belvoir elderflower cordial, 35ml vodka (we suggest raspberry flavour), 15ml Limoncello and 50ml lychee juice into a cocktail shaker, add a handful of ice, shake and strain into a martini glass (because every cocktail looks better in a martini glass). Finally, garnish with a floating rose petal.

There you have it – three delicious new cocktails from the Belvoir Fruit Farms recipe book, all ideal for the wedding season. Having Belvoir drinks at your wedding? Let us know in the comments!

As always, let us know if you’ve got your own recipes and we’ll put the best ones on this blog.

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!

Good day to you all. We hope you are well. We really do – after all, we wouldn’t resort to pleasantries and mere small talk when Blighty is under threat from a pandemic.

Oh yes, a fever is sweeping the nation. Although whether that fever is bringing high temperatures or a lot of hot air seems up for debate.

Here at Belvoir Fruit Farms, we’re just glad to see the return of those iconic war posters. This one, Coughs and Sneezes Spread Diseases by Herbert Mayo Bateman, is a particular favourite (thanks, National Archives!) and sits rather nicely with the design of the Belvoir On For Britain blog.

So as health and wellbeing seems to be at the forefront of people’s minds, we thought we’d open the fabled Belvoir Fruit Farm recipe book to a share a little information on the good properties of our much-loved ingredients. This week: the elderflower.

(At this point, our legal eagles would like us to point out that whilst we make incredibly delicious drinks, we are not medicine gurus and you should always consult your friendly doctor before quaffing our cordials in the hope of a quick recovery.)

Herbal lore

Every part of the elder – bark, leaves, flowers and berries – has been used within domestic medicine since the days of Hippocrates (smart guy; they still swear by him). Epilepsy, asthma, hay-fever, inflammation of the eyes and general nasal stuffiness were all treated with elder. Elder ointment was used for sprains and bruises whilst a distillation of elderflowers was thought to clear up complexions, the effects of sunburn and even freckles. It was also said to cure sore throats and alleviate the symptoms of colds and flu.

Modern herbalists have found that elderflowers contain flavonoids (17 points in Scrabble) which have antioxidant (19) and immunologic (18) properties.

Folklore

If you’re going in search of fairies. it is said that the best time is on Midsummer’s Eve beneath an elder bush. If you look hard enough, you just might see the Fairy King and Queen together with their entourage passing by!

An elder planted at your back door is believed to keep evil spirits from entering the house (we recommend a weatherproof, sturdy lock too) and act as a protector to the other plants in your garden.

Elderflower production

Still very much a tree of the woods and hedgerows, it is only in recent times that elders have been cultivated on a large scale. Belvoir Fruit Farms uses over 90 acres of land in the grounds of Belvoir Castle to organically grow its elders. Hand-picked and then hand-pressed, the elderflowers are infused with lemon and sugar syrup to create the unique fresh flavour of Belvoir’s Elderflower Cordial.

Belvoir’s Elderflower Cordial

Shoo the imposters, for Belvoir Fruit Farms is the original producer of elderflower cordial. To this day, we use the very same recipe Lady Mary Manners used to quench the thirst of friends and family over 25 years ago.

Belvoir’s Elderflower Cordial is delicious served chilled with still or sparkling water. And for a summer celebration, pop a small dash of elderflower cordial into a champagne flute and top up with fizz.

And if too much of this good stuff leaves with you with a sore head, elderflower cordial sans champagne is a perfect morning-after remedy that helps to clear the mind.

To stock up with Elderflower Cordial in preparation for The Big Sneeze, head to your nearest fine food retailer, discerning supermarket, or, of course, our very own online shop.

Mother’s Day (or Mothering Sunday, if you prefer) is this Sunday. Perhaps you’ve already ordered the chrysanthemums, booked a table and bought a compilation CD of crooners.
Well done if you have. Fear not if you haven’t – Belvoir is here to help.

You could, of course, scurry off and find the perfect gift on the internet. But that’s cheating. And as for restaurants, it’s one of their busiest days – they might squeeze you in like sardines.

So this Mother’s Day, why not avoid the cost and the queues by treating your nearest and dearest to a splendid three course meal? You’ll save yourself some cash, and get to impress the whole family with your culinary skills. And your mother prefers it when you make gifts. Believe us.

Right. Apron on? Washed your hands? Okay, here’s our suggested three course menu – embellished, naturally, with a little bit of Belvoir.

Starter: Thai Pea Soup

Go East with this snappy little starter. You’ll transform 250g of frozen peas into delicious Thai pea soup with a little help from some coconut milk, fish sauce and Belvoir’s Organic Ginger Cordial. It’s deliciously different.
» Thai pea soup recipe

Main: Spicy Chicken Wrap

Quick and simple to make, this main course is full of colour and flavour. Spicy chilli flakes and Belvoir’s Lime and Lemongrass Cordial bring a pleasant zing to diced chicken and peppers. The whole thing’s wrapped in warm tortilla. Go on, pick it up with your fingers.
» Spicy chicken wrap recipe

Dessert: Elderflower Lime Cheesecake

Cool your taste buds with this delicate and delightful cheesecake for dessert. You’ll need three quarters of a large pack of Digestives. Try not to scoff the remaining quarter while you’re baking – you’ll spoil your dinner. And what would your mother say about that?
» Elderflower lime cheesecake recipe

And to drink? Well, take your pick from our fine range of cordials, pressés and juices. Or if you’re looking for something with a little more kick, why not try one of our cheeky cocktail recipes? Mums deserve a special treat once in a while.

So this Mother’s Day, instead of saying it with flowers, we suggest saying it with elderflowers. Let us know how you get on in the kitchen by sending your pics to the usual address – we’ll publish the best ones on this blog.

Good luck! And if you’re a mum – enjoy!