This blog has not been abandoned. It just looks that way because its winter and day trips to tearooms happen a lot less in the winter. But I am already planning some trips for 2008.

However, to keep some scone action going in the meanwhile, I have decided to start a campaign of eating cream teas in the privacy of my home. There’s no point reviewing the quality of cups of tea that I make, because of course I make a good cup of tea. But I can let you know what I think of the various ready-made scones available in the supermarkets and bakeries of our good nation.

So hold yourself in readiness, and the scone joys will recontinue very soon… –>

Scone was fruited, decent texture, served with a mini pot of jam and a couple of pats of anchor butter. Which all sounds fine, but it was lacking in flavour somehow.

Tea - well that’s another thing altogether. Only nasty paper cups available, no real milk, only the unpleasant miniature cartons of ‘milk with non-milk fat’ which apparently ‘tastes like real milk’. Pah! And how much do they charge for just one cup of this sacreligious brew? £1.60. Bloody Nora.

£3.90 - far too much for what you get.

–>

A damn fine cream tea this. Tea, in a nice pot with real milk - yield, 3 cups. Scone was delivered as shown with lashings of cream on one half and oodles of strawberry jam on the other half, which meant you had to either slap the two together and scarf the lot in one big undignified gobful, or, as I did, embark upon some tricky transferring and stirring action. Scone was a nice soft texture, fruited and darn tasty. Highly recommended.

£3.90 –>

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) –>

Moggerhanger Park is a cut above your average stately home on the catering front. I have, in the past, enjoyed a splendid meal in their restaurant which serves up excellent local food in the evenings. On hearing that the tea room had been awarded prestigious membership of the Tea Guild I had to test it out.

Maybe my hopes were a little too high, but I don’t think Moggerhanger quite came through for me. It’s a nice joint in the old kitchens - waitress service with tablecloths and flowers on the table. It also serves lunches, and a wide array of home-made cakes and puddings. There were several parties partaking of some very tasty looking feasts while I was munching on my scone. And to be fair, I fully intend to go back and test them out.

There was a choice of scones - Lemon, Strawberry or Cheese - I chose strawberry, after being assured that this meant a plain scone with strawberry jam. However, there was a distinct lemony sensation to the scone, which was odd. The scones were billed as warm, but their slightly rubbery texture lead me to believe this meant a cold scone had been wapped in the microwave for a quick blast. Pointless.

The scones themselves were pretty good, nice soft texture - would have been better served cold without the ‘warm’ pretensions. Two scones came served with just enough cream for one, and a pat of pre-packed butter and flora on the side. (Flora! as if!). Just about the right amount of decent jam.

Things perked up more with the tea. Loose leaf - hurrah! The china teapot gave up 3 cups of tasty tea (one has a choice of blends) and the milk was real and plentiful. Presumably membership of the Tea Guild is related more to quality of tea than quality of scone.

£4.35 - bear in mind that’s for two scones, where mostly my prices are for just one. Very good. –>