Flower power (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Flower power

For a brief, two-week period at the end of May each year, locals in the Gloucestershire village of South Woodchester can be seen in the hedgerows picking elderflowers by the handful.

Yet it is not for their own consumption that these keen harvesters gather the delicate petals. A successful local drinks company famed for its Elderflower Cordial has now launched a range of sorbets is summer flavours.

Employing local people to provide some of the precious flower heads needed for their cordial is just one of the ways Bottlegreen maintains its original status as a local business, but now it is branching out into delicious sorbets with exotic flavours and a creamy texture.

Back in 1989, Kit and Shireen Morris established Bottlegreen as a way to use their considerable wine-making skills to produce delicious non-alcoholic drinks suitable for adults.

But little did they know that the combination of local spring water and the very best fruit and flower ingredients would develop into a national business supplying cordials, presss and spritzers to discerning customers.

As well as the famous Elderflower Cordial, Bottlegreen now make ginger and lemongrass, apple and elder and spiced berry cordials, all without artificial colours, flavourings or sweeteners.

Unlike the cordials, Bottlegreen presss are ready to drink, and make refreshing mixers for vodka, gin and tequila. As well as elderflower, the presses are available in other mouth-watering flavours such as cranberry and lime and limeflower.

With such an array of varieties, it is easy to see what inspires the company.

"Flavours are what we're about", says Bottlegreen's Simon Spears, "We'll source ingredients wherever we get the best taste."

And Bottlegreen's range is always expanding. Having just introduced Bon Grape, a non-alcoholic, lightly sparkling grape juice drink available in red, white or rose, Bottlegreen are now turning their hand to sorbets.

Flavoured with the well-known cordials, Bottlegreen sorbets are creamier and easier to scoop than most. And they are the perfect sin-free dessert as well, being virtually fat free.

So despite employing just 30 people and working from a small premises in a Cotswold village, Bottlegreen have taken the nation by storm.

As Simon explains, "We punch above our weight. People think we are much bigger than we are, but from fairly humble beginnings we're doing ok!"

Bottlegreen sorbets are available from Waitrose. Other Bottlegreen products are available from most supermarkets and all good food specialists. www.bottle-green.co.uk