The Devon Cream Tea: Cream First, and Where to Get the Best One

Short answer: In Devon the cream goes on the warm scone first and the jam on top. Cornwall does it the other way round. The best in this guide are Town Farmhouse in Mortehoe, Creedy's Corner in Budleigh Salterton, The Old Forge in Chagford and the honesty-box tea barn at East Soar.

Cream first. That is the rule.

Split a warm scone, spread the clotted cream on first, then spoon the jam on top. That is the Devon method, and it is not a marketing invention — it is genuinely how it is done here, and doing it the other way round in a Devon tea room will get you a look.

Cornwall spreads the jam first and the cream on top. Both counties are entirely certain the other is wrong. The practical argument for the Devon way is that cream on a warm scone behaves like butter, which is roughly the point of it.

What a proper one looks like

Two scones, warm rather than merely not-cold. A generous pot of clotted cream, not a thimble. Strawberry jam. A pot of tea rather than a mug. If you are paying seaside prices and getting one scone and a plastic tub, you are being short-changed.

Where to get a good one

Town Farmhouse in Mortehoe, above Woolacombe, is the cream tea of choice on the north coast — home-made scones, generous cream, and it sits at the end of the Morte Point walk, which is the right way to earn one. Opening days vary out of season, so ring ahead rather than trusting the listing.

Creedy's Corner on Budleigh Salterton's High Street does a cream tea with a big fruit scone, a generous pot of tea and proper portions of cream and jam, at a price reviewers describe as reasonable. Jazz playing, dog friendly, relaxed.

The Old Forge in Chagford, on the square, does one that visitors rank among the best anywhere — one review goes as far as saying the scone alone deserves recognition. Closed Mondays and Sundays. Stone Lane Gardens nearby also does an unexpectedly good one in a tiny tea room.

The unusual ones

• East Soar Walkers' Hut, near Salcombe — cream teas on an honesty-box basis in the middle of coastal farmland.
• Home Farm Café at Parke, Bovey Tracey — praised by walkers arriving after fifteen miles.
• Ullacombe Farm on the Haytor road — a children's afternoon tea served in a little hen house.
• Milsons Point, Sidmouth — a cream tea for three just under £30, and the dog gets the leftover clotted cream.
• The Captains Table, Woolacombe — two warm scones and a drink, around £8, dogs welcome.

One last thing

If someone in Devon serves you jam first without comment, they are almost certainly not from here. Say nothing and enjoy it anyway.