Bottesford’s Belvoir Farm scoops top UK soft drinks award

A family-run farm has celebrated national recognition as hundreds take part in an annual community harvest.

Belvoir Farm, based in Bottesford, has won the Best Dilutable Drink award at the 2025 FoodBev UK Soft Drinks Awards for its iconic elderflower cordial.

The accolade highlights the business’s dedication to quality and tradition, as the cordial recipe was first created more than 40 years ago by owner Pev Manners’ mother, Mary.

This week marks the end of Belvoir Farm’s elderflower harvest, where the public can earn money picking flowers.

Pev said: “It’s a real honour to receive this award and it feels especially meaningful right now, as families, friends and neighbours are out picking flowers and making this harvest a huge success.

“Community is at the heart of what we do.”

Hundreds of people from Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Rutland and Cambridgeshire have taken part in the harvest, earning £3.50 per kilo or £50 per bin bag of elderflowers delivered to the farm on Barkestone Lane, Bottesford.

Thanks to warm weather, the harvest began two weeks early and finishes today (Friday, June 20).

Belvoir Farm is the only UK soft drinks company to use fresh elderflowers, infused within 24 hours with sugar, water and lemon juice for a natural, countryside taste.

Food and travel writer Karen Burns-Booth, this year’s harvest ambassador, praised the event as “a seasonal tradition that brings people together and celebrates what makes our region so special”.