Not strictly a picture of the tea - but look - 95p a portion!

Now, don’t be fooled by the above picture. The jam in it is not officially part of the cream tea. I was sneakily given it free by one of the girls in the tea-room when I started taking photos of their hideously over-priced jam in the fridge.

Tea - all as it should be, pot - check, real milk - check. Scone - fruit (hurrah!) nice size, nice fresh texture, butter came free with the scone - all should have been well.

HOWEVER - cream and jam were in the fridge in individual plastic pots and priced at an additional 95p a portion. Now I might have just about coped with this for the cream (although the cream was clearly crusty from having been in the fridge all day) but 95p for a spoonful of jam????? NO WAY! I realise this may be shirking my duties as a cream tea reviewer, but I simply cannot bring myself to pay 95p for a dab of jam. I am not going to be taken advantage of - oh no, I have my tea-based pride.

I checked the gift shop in the stable courtyard. You can purchase a full jar of NT branded jam for £2.50. Let’s take a stand people - refuse to buy the jam in the teashop. It’s a crime.

£3.40 - will buy you just the tea and scone and butter - no jam. Pah.