Guest Reviewer: Jim Petts

Not exactly a cream tea, but highly relevant. We attended upon the Town Mill Bakery at Lyme Regis for the elevenses. This is something of a local institution: as well has purveying a splendid selection of bread-based product, they also provide an amazing eating experience based on long trestle tables, large mugs of beverages and a variety of comestibles to suit the hour of the day. Being eleven-ish, toast, muffins etc were on offer, and also the amazing gigantic Jurassic Scone. This came in two types, the plain and fruit, and both were huge. In fact a couple of these kept the writer in calories until 7:00 in the evening without fretting. The scones are available on a help-yourself basis and you position same on a small rectangular plank (a veritable square meal). The trestle tables were supplied with large dishes of butter and apricot jam. Pots are for wimps. The scones were excellent in texture in taste, coming fresh from the oven. The size was slightly intimidating, and this would not be the way forward for purveyors of cream teas for sound economic reasons. The apricot jam is not quite in accordance with Small Pleasures Guidelines, but for the elevenses experience worked remarkably well.

For this excellent interesting gastro-experience, the scones were £1 each take-away, £2 eat-in, but with access to unlimited butter and jam.