Good news – next Tuesday is Pancake Day!

Traditionally, it’s called Shrove Tuesday (or Mardi Gras – literally, Fat Tuesday – if you’re in the carnival mood). And it’s the last day of indulgence before Lent.

But why pancakes? Well, to avoid wastage, households would use up all their sugar, butter, flour, milk and eggs. Pancakes are easily made from these ingredients and provide some final fuel before the fasting period. Eggs would not be eaten thereafter until Easter.

In Iceland, Pancake Day is called Sprengidagur or Bursting Day (which we think is fabulous name). The event is marked by eating salted meat and peas (admittedly less fabulous).

Pancake Day racing

Back in Blighty, pancake races are held in villages and towns across the land. The tradition is said to have originated when a housewife from Olney was so busy making pancakes that she forgot the time until she heard the church bells ringing for the service. She raced out of the house to church while still carrying her frying pan and pancake.

The Olney Pancake Race has been held since 1445. Contestants, traditionally women, carry a frying pan and race to the finishing line, tossing the pancakes as they go. The winner is the first to cross the line having tossed the pancake a certain number of times.

Since 1950 the people of Olney have competed against a small town called Liberal in Kansas, USA. This event is now called the International Pancake Day Race. It all started when a magazine picture of the Olney women racing each other to the church fell into the hands of Liberal’s then President. He contacted the Vicar of St. Peter and St. Paul’s church in Olney, challenging their women to race against women of Liberal. The rest is history. And an awful lot of pancakes.

Loads of lemons

If you need a classic pancake day recipe, try Delia’s with sugar and lemon. There’s quite a few of us on the farm, but thankfully we’ve got plenty of lemon juice. (Not only for our organic lemonade, but it also gives us natural citric acid for our drinks.)

Just for fun, can you guess how many lemons we use every year? Pop your guesses in the comments box below.

If you’re doing anything special for pancake day, send your words and pictures to the usual address. And if you’re not, well, simply dig in and enjoy!

In a quiet and very beautiful corner of Lincolnshire sits the Belvoir Fruit Farm. It’s here we quietly go about mixing and bottling our naturally delicious drinks, and then make sure all our favourite farm shops, delicatessens and supermarkets have enough of them.

But last week, our beloved little bottles were propelled towards the bright lights of the big city on the crest of a wave.

Amidst the throng of London Fashion Week, beautiful people sat on deckchairs and happily quaffed their way through 25cl bottles of Belvoir’s Organic Lemonade, Organic Ginger Beer, Elderflower Pressé and our classic cucumbery Summer Cooler.

It was all part of the ‘chill out’ beach shack created for Swami’s Surf Company at 180 The Strand.

Swami’s – named after the renowned surfing spot in California – is a bespoke surfboard manufacturing company that, according to Vogue, “is fast attracting the cool and hip of the surf world”.

Giles, founder of Swami’s, told us after the event:

London Fashion Week finished yesterday and what a great week we had – huge response to our surfboards and beachwear line.

We found that the cucumber was a particular hit for the more refined palate and people loved the spicy ginger hit, so I think it’s official that the fashionistas love to quaff Belvoir!

Thank you so much for supplying them, we’re even bigger fans of yours now than we already were.

We were glad to be of assistance. Although don’t expect to see our MD, Pev Manners, in a pair of Bermuda shorts any time soon.

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!