The Work Behind the Harvest
There’s a moment in spring when everything shifts.
The air sharpens with scent. Elderflowers lace the hedgerows like delicate embroidery, catching light and whispering that it’s time. Not just to notice—but to get to work.
At Widden Brook Farm, the harvest doesn’t begin with machinery. It begins with watching.
The Flowers Come Gently
The elders don’t offer all their flowers at once. They arrive in gestures — soft and staggered across the weeks and months. But each umbel, once opened, holds only a short window of perfection. A few days at most.
So each week, sometimes more than once, we return to the hedgerows. We pause before cutting, asking permission of the Elder, then we take only what’s ready — not too early, not too late. From there, a fresh 880-litre batch begins. The flowers go straight into the process that becomes Elderflower Mist Sparkling.
It’s physical work, and often imperfect. But that’s the rhythm we answer to.
And fermentation? It begins right away. We rely on wild yeasts and time — no additives, no tricks. Each batch is its own story, shaped by what the flowers gave that week.
“You can’t rush this.”
— Shireen Baguley
Hands in the Flowers, Bottle in the Light
The beauty of Elderflower Mist Sparkling is that it tells the truth. You can see it in the haze, taste it in the first sip. It’s not polished, it’s alive. And behind every bottle are real hands — scratched by branches, weathered by work — moving fast to honour a short-lived gift.
This is why our drinks are seasonal — not just floral.
Like everything on the farm, the elderflowers have their own time — and they don’t wait for us.
The Difference Behind the Bottle
Mass-produced drinks don’t remember the soft stagger of flowering, or the morning the fog stayed late. They’re designed for sameness.
Ours are shaped by hands, hills, nature and happenstance.
When you drink Elderflower Mist Sparkling, you're drinking spring in motion. Not just flavour — but effort. Not just sparkle — but season. And when you know what it took to get here, that first pour tastes different.
It tastes like care.
