Devon Cream Tea: Cream First, and Where to Get a Good One

Short answer: In Devon the clotted cream goes on the scone first and the jam sits on top. Cornwall does it the other way round. Both sides are certain they are right, and nobody is going to settle it.

The Devon way

Cream first, jam on top. You split the scone, spread clotted cream on it like butter, and spoon jam over that.

Cornwall does the opposite — jam first, then a spoonful of cream on top. The two counties have been arguing about it for longer than anyone can usefully trace, and the argument is a good part of the pleasure.

What a proper one looks like

Two scones, ideally still warm. Clotted cream, not whipped or squirted. Proper jam, usually strawberry. A pot of tea rather than a mug. If the cream arrives in a foil-lidded plastic tub, the place is not really trying.

What it should cost

Expect somewhere around the £7 to £10 mark in a decent café. Reviewers single out Creedy's Corner in Budleigh Salterton as well priced — a big fruit scone, a generous pot of tea and proper portions of cream and jam.

Where to get one

• Creedy's Corner, Budleigh Salterton — jazz on, dog friendly, and the value people mention.
• Coast Cafe Bar, Seaton — very good coffee and scones with jam and cream.
• Town Farmhouse, Mortehoe — cream teas up on the headland above Woolacombe. Opening days vary; if the listing says closed it is still worth ringing.
• The Walkers' Hut at East Soar, near Salcombe — an honesty-box tea barn in the middle of coastal farmland.
• The National Trust tea room at Watersmeet, near Lynmouth — at the bottom of a wooded gorge.

A note on the scone

The pronunciation argument is entirely separate and even less winnable. Devon is not united on it either.

Where the cream tea may have started

Tavistock Abbey has a claim on it, dating back to the eleventh century. Cornwall disputes that too.