AN Alcester couple is set to halt their harvest for their award-winning gin to allow for a Platinum Jubilee air show.

Between the end of May and early June each year William and Kelsey, The Earl and Countess of Yarmouth, collect elderflower blossoms for their gin named St Maur, in the Ragley Woodlands, which surround Ragley Hall.

However, this year Midlands Air Festival have asked the couple to suspend their harvest for the Queen’s Jubilee weekend due to their fast jets display show.

Trevor Graham, the director of aviation for the Midlands Air Festival, said: “The Festival is a very exciting but complex event and public safety is our primary concern.

“Being able to have safe, designated low flying areas within the Ragley Estate is an important element of the show.

“We are grateful for the continued co-operation shown to us from the Earl and Countess of Yarmouth and St Maur who allow us access to their picking forest, which ensures we can continue to stage this stunning event for the people of the Midlands.”

William, who is the eldest son of the Marquess of Hertford, and grew up at Ragley Hall said: “We are absolutely delighted to be able to support and facilitate another local success story and a great show, with the Midlands Air Festival, even if it does interrupt our busiest time of year.”

The coordinates of the festival’s fast jets display area, which is directly over the woodland where the wild elderflowers are harvested, can be found on the bottle’s labels and logo.

William added: “When the Red Arrows fly part of their display has been to draw a heart in the sky with vapour trails.

“So, what better way to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Weekend than to have a heart drawn in the sky directly above the coordinates that appear on our bottles of St Maur?”