New Carding Mill Valley attraction offers tea on the terrace

The terrace above the tearooms at Carding Mill Valley, near Church Stretton, was officially opened to the public at the weekend and is already proving a hit.

Work on the new attraction began in January and builders pressed on through the snows of the new year to get the job completed on Thursday.

Emily Knight, visitor experience and conservation manager at Carding Mill Valley, said: "The rooftop terrace was a project we had originally wanted to do last year but it got put back with one thing and another.

"The contractors had to move a rooftop solar panel along to make way for the terrace and now the work is finished we have probably now got enough seating for 30 to 40 people."

She added: "Now the rooftop terrace provides visitors with additional space to sit and enjoy produce from the tearoom as well as a view of the hill and the garden from which the produce originates."

Miss Knight said building work for the new addition unearthed a peculiar glass bottle with an interesting history.

She said: "Chris Stratton, our learning officer, discovered that it originates from Mitcham, a borough on the edge of inner London.

"There was once a company there, set up in 1794 by two 'physic gardeners', which produced scents. These toiletries utilised the extensive lavender fields of which the area was well known for.

"Perhaps the bottle belonged to a Victorian lady picnicking by the stream before our tearooms existed."