American team rates Shropshire tea room best in Britain

An American news team visiting Britain for the Olympics was so impressed with a south Shropshire tearoom they declared it to be the best in England.

The team from Indiana's Channel 13 News was bowled over by the Rocke Cottage Tea Rooms in Clungunford, near Craven Arms.

Its owner, Karin Clarke, said the film crew appeared on her doorstep with cameras in tow.

They were documenting different aspects of British culture to link in with their sports coverage of London 2012.

When they contacted tourist officials to find a quintessential English teashop they were pointed in the direction of south Shropshire and Miss Clarke's establishment.

Miss Clarke, who took over the tearoom five years ago, said: "The film crew was not only covering the Olympics, it was doing features on the whole country, not just London. They said they did something similar in Beijing four years ago.

"They contacted Shropshire Tourism to see if the county had any traditional tearooms which could feature as part of a news report and they told the crew about me."

Rocke Cottage, which used to be known as the Bird on the Rock, has bagged successive Awards of Excellence in the Tea Guild's highly coveted Top Tea Place awards during the last two years and the American journalists said it deserved special praise.

Scott Swan, Channel 13 presenter and journalist, said in his report: "The best tea place in England is not found in the Olympic host city. Instead, you must travel 165 miles into the English countryside to find it. Welcome to Rocke Cottage Tea Rooms in Shropshire, England."

See the video at www.wthr.com/story/19241078/englands-top-tea-place