Lifting and raising gear and flap, causes more drag than just leaving it extended.
Agree with this as far as the gear goes - raising flap from full
will reduce drag, but you will probably need to lower the nose for a slightly higher best glide speed, if you are low when this happens then you will probably lose as much doing this as you gain raising the flap - and if you hit the hedge you will then be going faster!
Trying the various options at height and seeing what happens is a good way to sort it - let us know what you find.