The heatwave has seen production stop at England's only tea plantation – because the hot weather makes the flavour too strong to harvest.

Bosses at Tregothnan tea garden in Cornwall pride themselves on being the first in hundreds of years to grow a "classic cuppa" on home soil.

But they say the heatwave saw them halt harvesting for a few days, as the country was hotter than India.

Growers at the Cornish site say the high temperatures ''mean that the flavour becomes too strong''.

Managing director Jonathon Jones said: ''When the British say it is too hot for tea, we know it is seriously warm.

''However, the UK’s first tea plantation at Tregothnan has also found this has been too hot for the bushes.

''Harvesting had to pause for a few days while the temperatures soared, well above those of India.

'"The tea growers at Tregothnan explained that the fine tea process cannot be rushed and the high temperatures mean that the flavour becomes too strong.''

It's a different picture to last July, when Tregothnan saw a bumper crop of tea.

At that time it was announced the estate had produced the strongest brew ever in Europe, after a mini heatwave coincided with a flush of leaves on the assam bushes.

However, those temperatures reached nowhere near the levels of the last couple of weeks, which pushed the strength that bit too far to be palatable.