You can have afternoon tea next to a moat at this Surrey hotel

Not that I need an excuse to indulge in cake, but Afternoon Tea Week returns on August 12-18 so I decided to try Surrey's best rated spot for tea and scones.

I had the pleasure of tucking into all of my favourite foods with fellow cake lover, my mum, at Great Fosters hotel in Egham .

The luxury five star hotel has been rated on TripAdvisor as the best place in the whole of Surrey for afternoon tea and we couldn't wait to put it to the test.

More than 700 customers have given the hotel a sterling review for its quintessentially English tradition served daily from 1pm.

Available to eat inside the historic building or outside by a magnificent moat in the picturesque landscaped gardens, we were lucky enough to choose the latter as the sun was beaming.

What you can really expect if you order afternoon tea at Great Fosters hotel in Egham

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Buyagift and Red Letter Days are currently running lots of tempting hotel deals in the run up to Afternoon Tea Week including Great Fosters so we booked through them to bag a bargain.

Our voucher for traditional afternoon tea for two cost £70 and let's just say, it was worth every penny.

Casper Kostov, cocktail bar supervisor, was our waiter for the afternoon and boy did he know his stuff.

I anticipated that the service would be excellent as Great Fosters is home to one of the four Michelin starred restaurants in Surrey and he exceeded my expectation.

Casper guided us to our glorious, spacious table by the glistening water and took our drinks order - English breakfast tea for me and coffee latte for mum.

After a bit of a natter and an opportunity to take a selfie by the stunning moat, our two exquisite stands arrived.

Afternoon tea for two is normally served on one stand to share but as I have some dietary requirements we had one each.

I'm no stranger to afternoon tea, regularly testing the patisserie chef when I turn up with a gluten and dairy allergy.

And I was not disappointed as not only did my sandwiches have the same fabulous fillings as my mum, I had incredible fluffy scones and a similar array of gorgeous petit fours.

We scoffed the savoury tier pretty quickly with sheer excitement.

The smoked salmon, coronation chicken, egg mayonnaise and cucumber finger sarnies were elegant and luscious, with the coronation chicken slice being my favourite.

Afternoon tea at Great Fosters starts at £35 per person (Image: Laura Nightingale)

The fresh crust-less bread was soft and the fruity filling was rich and abundant.

The sweets were just as impressive to look at as they were to devour and I could not get enough of the scones - thankfully we had two each.

One plain and one sultana, we loaded them up with sticky strawberry jam and indulgent gooey cream - need I go on?

We had originally planned to box up our leftovers to finish off at home, but we gobbled the lot during our second round of hot drinks.

As with most afternoon teas, the portion size was very generous and we had to waddle to the car afterwards.

We were not offered any extra sandwiches or cake like some venues do, but if we had we wouldn't have been able to finish them anyway.

I'm pleased we booked our tea for the last slot of the day (4.15pm) as it meant we didn't have to cook dinner later or wash the dishes.

In conclusion our afternoon tea experience was faultless.

From the fine hospitality, the unique setting and exclusive atmosphere to the delectable food itself, I can see why it was rated the very best in Surrey.

I wouldn't hesitate to go back. I just need to let my food baby go down.