‘Posh pop from Norfolk’ is certainly proving a sparkling success for Claire Martinsen – with high-profile awards and ambitious plans for further growth.

The enterprising Watton-based businesswoman was the toast of the Shaping Norfolk’s Future 2010 conference, as delegates were invited to sample her range of Breckland Orchard drinks.

Since its launch in the spring of 2009, Mrs Martinsen’s business has won many loyal customers and made a big impression on the artisan soft drinks market.

This year Breckland Orchard won the Best New Business Award at the 2010 EDP Business Awards, a category sponsored by Shaping Norfolk’s Future.

Mrs Martinsen told the conference how she had left a highly successful career in marketing with confectionery giant Mars after starting a family, determined to “do something different and follow my passion”.

Inspired by her grandmother’s delicious home-made lemonade, she began to investigate gaps in the market for artisan soft drinks.

Breckland Orchard now makes a range of six drinks, including cranberry and rosehip, strawberry and rhubarb and the award-winning ginger beer with chilli.

Made with Norfolk spring water and real fruit juice, the drinks are sold in more than 450 outlets, including delis, farm shops, gastro-pubs and cafés across the country. The brand’s new marketing tagline is ‘posh pop from Norfolk’.

A prominent member of the Twitter community, Mrs Martinsen said that she was “a huge fan” of social media, which had been fantastic for her business.

She added that she could see the business “growing massively in the next five years”, including more wholesalers, new flavours, different bottle sizes and the possibility of developing export markets.