FOR the perfect cup of tea and slice of cake look no further than Hampton Court Gardens at Hope-under-Dinmore.

Its tea-room has just been voted the seventh best in the country by a panel of experts in a survey carried out by The Independent newspaper.

Roving food writer and restaurant critic Clarissa Hyman was full of praise following her visit.

"A cream tea and a stroll around here is sensational," she enthused.

"The wealthy American owners have restored the old gardens but given them a contemporary look.

"There is an inventive walled kitchen garden with unusual organic produce as ornamental as it is edible."