Belvoir Farm challenges ITV presenter Daisy Payne to take part in ‘bush to bottle’ challenge

A family-owned drinks company is challenging am ITV presenter to take part in its annual harvest.

Belvoir Farm is challenging gardener and TV presenter Daisy Payne to jump on board its annual elderflower harvest next month.

The harvest invites the local community to pick flowers in return for cash, and it has become a popular event on the Pick Your Own calendar.

Daisy said: “I’m delighted to be part of this wonderful harvest.

“I’m a huge fan of elderflower cordial and look forward to finding out more about these fantastic flowers and how they are transformed into this delicious drink.

“We’re going to need a lot of help from the local community to make it happen, so we hope people will come out in force and join me and I’m hoping Pev might even be willing to share his classic family recipe with me!”

Daisy will go behind the scenes of Belvoir Farm’s Elderflower Cordial, looking at its bush to bottle journey.

She will pick, infuse and blend the flowers with Belvoir Farm’s trademark sugar, lemon and spring water to create the signature flavour.

Daisy will then be bottling, boxing and delivering the limited-edition bottles for customers to enjoy, all within 24 hours of the flowers first being picked.

The crucial blooming season is from late May until the end of June.

Pev Manners, managing director of Belvoir Farm, said: “I’ve been picking elderflowers since I was a young boy, when my mother started making elderflower cordial on our kitchen table to her own original recipe.

“The wonder of our cordial is the fantastic taste, which is developed as the freshly picked flowers gently infuse for 24 hours to provide a rich and fragrant cordial, whose recipe has remained the same for nearly 40 years.

“We’re delighted to say our annual harvest is still going strong and it’s going to be great fun working with Daisy to welcome her into the wonderful wild organic fields at Belvoir Farm. It will give this year’s harvest a brilliant start.

“This year’s ‘bush to bottle’ challenge will demonstrate the speed at which we can deliver the freshest tasting Elderflower Cordial, transforming these beautifully fragrant flowers into our delicious drinks, straight off the production line and into the hands of our consumers.”

Picking takes place on Belvoir Farm’s own 60-acre organic plantation and the surrounding wild hedgerows found across Leicestershire and the three bordering counties.

This year, collectors will receive £3.30 per kilo for the flowers they collect.

To find out more about the harvest go to www.belvoirfarm.co.uk/elderflower-harvest/about-the-harvest/

Daisy’s challenge will mark the official start of the harvest and they are hoping that lots of local elderflower fans will join them to help pick the most flowers in record time.