A drink with a history dating back 7,000 years is being given a new lease of life by Mereworth couple Will and Emelia Boscawen.

Mead - a drink made from honey - has somewhat fallen out of favour since it was the favourite tipple of monks in the Middle Ages.

Now, the Boscawens have produced a new lighter variety which they hope will soon rival the current popularity of gin or prosecco.

Mr Boscawen explained: “People imagine mead is dreadfully sweet and syrupy, but that doesn’t have to be the case. You can make it as sweet or dry as you like.”

The couple have now produced two varieties of the drink they are marketing as Marourde, said to be an ancient spelling of Mereworth.

The yellow label contains nothing but water and honey, while the blue is gently flavoured with Kent Golding hops to give a little more sharpness.

Sitting somewhere between beer and wine, Marourde is gluten free, has no added chemicals and has 15% fewer calories than prosecco, which made it the winner of the Specialist Drink Award in this year’s Taste of Kent Awards.

Mr Boscawen, 38, had the idea after returning from a career in finance in Hong Kong.

He said: “I was looking for something to add value to my father’s farm in Mereworth. My first thought was wine-growing and we planted a vineyard, but it soon became clear that it was difficult to differentiate our product from other vineyards.

“Mead is different. We already had a lot of honey being produced on the farm and I heard that mead was the fastest growing drink in America, thanks in part to the popularity of Game of Thrones.

“We’ve been very cautious and spent the last year getting the product exactly right. Now we’re ready to expand and should be able to produce around 15,000 bottles a month by the end of 2018.

The meadery is at Brewers Hall Oast in Tonbridge Road and a case of 12 bottles costs £48 from www.marourde.com.