This time I went for the official cream tea on offer, so got two scones rather than the one I normally go for. So the price is a bit more.

The tea was all in order, cup and saucer, tea in a pot and milk in a jug. Nicely provided with an extra pot of hot water for topping up purposes. Top touch. Ooo, it was lovely, a nice cup of tea.

The scones themselves, were damn fine, lovely home-made texture with a hint of crunch to the outside and a lovely moist centre, not too fluffy, not too doughy. Nice cream, but the portion a little stingy for two scones.

The jam however, was a disaster. It all looked good - in a mini-glass jar - not homemade, but the glass jar stuff is usually ok. It was supposed to be strawberry, but the only way you’d know was by reading the label. On opening the jar, I could pour liquid out onto the scone, then the ‘jam’ inside was a weird translucent flabby jelly that had never seen a strawberry. The flavour was citric. Nasty stuff.

Please note scone-servers of Baddesley Clinton - get a better jam supplier to do your scones some justice!

£4.35 - but that’s for two (count ‘em!) scones.

A slightly over-brown scone was pleasantly crunchy on the outside, but rather dry in the middle - fruited though. Choice of jams, including strawberry - served in jars, tasted good. Cream however was stale, having sat in the fridge too long. Not off, just stale.

Tea was good though, served in teapot with plenty of bejugged milk.

Nice girl at the till rearranged my tray loaded with scones into the optimum groupings of ‘this is a cream tea’ ‘this is a single scone’ etc to get me best value for money, which was nice of her. Plenty of seats both outside and in, which was lucky because it was a very busy day.

£3.85 (or thereabouts, couldn’t really figure out how to split my receipt)

Without question the worst National Trust tearoom I have ever been in. You may have spotted the obvious lack of scone - well, they didn’t sell ‘em. Just crappy plastic-wrapped cakes of nastiness that I refuse to waste my hard-earned pennies on. Tea (well hot water with a teabag dumped in it) served in a paper cup without so much as a cardboard collar to protect my hands from burning. It came with two cartons of UHT whiteness, that was either a bit off, or just vile-tasting. There was no discernible tea flavour - it simply tasted disgusting.

Shame because the house was nice, and all the folks that were working there were perfectly charming.

£1.00 - total rip off.

As I entered the Redwoods Restaurant - a brand new building, all glass, chrome and eco-wood effects - I passed a staff member reading comment cards. Peering over his shoulder I read “RESTAURANT DISAPPOINTING!!” in big capital letters. I turned to watch a pair of very brown scones being walked to a garden table and braced myself for disaster.

All the scones were in the fridge with the cream and jam (first rule of bakery products - DON’T store in fridge) and all looking dark brown - but a nice size and fruited. Two kinds of jam on offer in unlabelled dishes, but my experienced eyes detected strawberry and raspberry - both red. Good. Cream, whipped and piped in a decorative manner, which charmed my stony heart. Both portions were generous, allowing me to really load my scone up. But as I feared the scone was verging on the rock bun, and the outer raisins a bit burnt tasting. The inside was good though, you could tell it would have been a jolly good scone if they’d just turned the gas down a bit.

Tea, served in quite pretty metal pot, with real milk in a teeny little job. Yield - 3 cups - lovely.

All in all an excellent cream tea, let down by the over-cooked scone. Was it a one-off, or do they always set their oven too high? Do I have to go back to try again? I just don’t know.

£3.60

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.