Britchcombe Farm, Uffington

In a desperate attempt to grab what could well be the first - and last - week of the British summer, some friends and I cycled from Oxford to Uffington, in the Vale of the White Horse. I was looking forward to this trip as it'd mean I'd achieve a few firsts: seeing the White Horse up close and personal; cycling with all my camping gear; and eating cream teas at a campsite.

Firstly, I'd recommend the cycle ride. It's not far from the outskirts of Oxford - 18 miles - and there are a number of pretty villages and nice pubs en route. Take note though: if a friend is willing to drive behind you, Tour de France style, with all the camping gear don't turn them down! Sadly for me I didn't have that luxury, but using that extra energy gave me even more of an excuse to tuck into a cream tea. (We'll gloss over the pub stops and Haribo consumed along the way!)

As we cruised into the campsite at Britchcombe Farm we caught sight of the all important 'Teas this way' sign. As every camper knows, when there's cream teas to be had and pitching of tents to be done, there's only going to be one winner: cream teas. We were enticed into the outhouse-cum-cafe by a large banner of the Queen and a plentiful supply of Union flag bunting.

At first glance things looked good. We'd seen a fresh supply of scones being delivered from the kitchen. They were a good size and looked tasty. We therefore decided to opt for the large cream tea, complete with two plain scones. It was supplied with strawberry jam and cream (not clotted I hasten to add, although - on a positive note - additional cream and jam was supplied at no extra cost when requested).

I scoffed my way through the first half of my scone before realising how dry it was. In fact, upon cutting them the scones lost their majestic shape and fell apart. Undeterred, I piled on extra cream and strawberry jam, but I still ended up leaving half a scone; I just couldn't face it. My initial hunger/greed had been eclipsed by a realisation that I was eating a heavy, dry scone.

The only other thing left to comment on is the tea, which was your standard English breakfast brew. I liked the shiny silver teapots as the bunting reflected nicely in them. (Clearly I will not give extra marks for this fact.)

So, what does this cream tea score? With each bite my score dropped and dropped, until I eventually decided to settle on a 4 / 10. The price was good (£4.80) as was the location, but the cream tea itself - the main event - just didn't live up to expectations. If I was passing by again I would carry on cycling until I got into Uffington village centre to enjoy the delicious food at the Fox and Hounds pub.

One tip: if you decide to do this trip, pitch your tent before eating the cream tea. The campsite's on a slope, so you may find yourself sleeping at 45 degrees if you don't bag a flat pitch! After a sleep-free night in the tents (which my friend quoted as "the worst night's sleep of my sleeping career") we were fresh as an old daisy, and decided to go for a little stroll up the hill to see the White Horse itself. The view was incredible, I hope you enjoy the photos!

Before that, a small and shameless plug for my friend's camping website; if you're planning a visit to a campsite then Camping Ninja is the website to visit!

Happy scone eating,

The Cream Tea Queen

The Reading Room, Great Coxwell, near Faringdon

I was overjoyed to go on an impromptu cream tea outing today, particularly as it came at the end of a long walk. I had hit a sugar low, so can only liken stumbling upon The Reading Room at Great Coxwell to seeing a cool oasis glimmering away in the desert.

The Reading Room is located in the centre of this beautiful village. It's open for teas and cakes on the first Sunday of each month between 2.30pm-5.30pm. We therefore struck gold with our unplanned trip!

Decked out with bunting together with a few tables covered with a floral tablecloth, The Reading Room is very quaint. I was beside myself to behold a table brimming with an array of homemade cakes, as well as scones.

The cakes looked too good to be true, so my friend and I had two (did I mention that we'd just got back from a long walk?!): a carrot cake and a chocolate cake. Delicious, and only £2 for each generous slice.

We also forced ourselves to have a scone each. An arduous task you might well imagine, but as your Cream Tea Queen I couldn't let you down! They were smaller than I'd normally like, but having eaten the cakes beforehand their small size counted in their favour! My trademark prod verified that they were freshly baked. They were supplied with large pots of cream and jam, both of which complimented the scone delightfully. Although not clotted cream, the cream had been whipped to perfection.

Throughout this we kept ourselves hydrated with tea poured from a pot. The pot was brown, the mugs were floral. This was true retro village style.

So, how would I rate the outing? At £3.50 each for a cream tea (£1.50 for tea, £2 for scones with the trimmings) it was a complete bargain. The location was delightful, both the village and The Reading Room itself. I'm therefore going to give it a 9/10. The only thing holding me back from going more frequently is the fact that it's open once a month!

I'm sharing with you some photos that I took in Great Coxwell. For fear of being rude (and alerting Neighbourhood Watch) I had to stop myself taking too many photos of the houses in the village. Note the huge National Trust barn, which was built in c1200!

Happy scone eating,

The Cream Tea Queen

Waterperry Gardens, near Oxford

Worried I may not have time for a cream tea today, I was relieved to arrive at Waterperry Gardens late this afternoon. I've worked in the cafe of a busy tourist attraction myself, so I knew that we were playing a risky game by arriving at 4pm and expecting a supply of scones to be readily available. I wasn't wrong either; there were a few cheese scones left but only one, rather sad looking, fruit scone (£1.85). My boyfriend commented that it looked as if a child had picked it up earlier in the day, dropped it, and then put it back in the basket. Not the most appealing proposition, but as your Cream Tea Queen it was my duty to try it!

Unfortunately they'd also run out of clotted cream. I declined the offer of whipped cream. (Does anyone have whipped cream on a scone?). Luckily there was a basket brimming with different miniature pots of delicious Wilkin & Sons of Tiptree jam (65p).

Upon falling apart on my plate, the scone revealed itself to be nice and fresh, most certainly baked today. It was a good size, and the fruit was evenly dissipated. The base was a bit thicker than one would expect, suggesting that it'd been left on a hot tray for 30 seconds too long. I quite enjoyed the additional crunch that this gave the scone and delighted in munching my way through it, although afterwards I was struck by the telltale taste of slightly too much baking soda.

The tea (£1.95) was loose leaf and delicious; an Oxford Brew by Jeeves & Jericho. A new brand to me, but one that I will be looking out for in the future. The lady I was with (an octogenarian who looks remarkably like the queen) kept commenting on how delicious the tea was, and how it was a shame that all tea is in bags nowadays. Another plus point is that an extra pot of hot water was supplied upon request. We would make those tea leaves work for their money!

The tea room itself isn't much to look at from the outside (a glorified cricket pavilion springs to mind), but it's tasteful on the inside and there are plenty of tables. The windows look out onto verdant grass, which - alfresco diners will be pleased to hear - is dotted with picnic benches.

So, how would I rate the cream (minus the cream) tea? Considering there was only one scone and no cream, I found it - coming in at a total cost of £4.45 - quite pricey. The scone itself was tasty though, and I am very much aware that I got the last one out of the basket, which at 4pm on a Sunday is never going to be the best of the bunch. The tea was delicious, as is the setting. With this in mind I'd give it a 6 / 10. I would go back but I'd have a cake instead (my fellow tea diners enjoyed their Bakewell tart and chocolate brownies immensely). 

We took a brief walk around the garden centre after tea. Not a place for me (I have a track record of killing most plants I come across), but I'd quite like to come back with my mum one day as I'm sure she'd appreciate it. There's also the gardens themselves of course, although we were too late in the day to visit those. I'd certainly leave a full day to soak the gardens up next time as they look quite large and you have to pay to visit them (£6.30 in the high season). We also took a trip into the (free) small museum of rural life which I found quite interesting. I hope that you like the photos!

Happy scone eating,

The Cream Tea Queen

Greys Court, near Henley-on-Thames

My friends and I have become National Trust (NT) members this year. It's an amazing excuse to go out "Trusting" - our new verb - with your friends and explore places that you may otherwise never know existed. My membership came into its own this weekend.

After an hour of unpleasant mountain biking in the (post-two weeks' solid rain) quagmire of Hambledon, we felt like we deserved a cream tea! I did my research beforehand and identified that it would be a short car ride to Greys Court, a NT property near Henley-on-Thames. Crucially, the NT guidebook stated that it had a tea room.

When we arrived in the early afternoon the car park was overflowing. Could all these people be there for the cream teas? More importantly, what if they ran out of cream teas?! As you can imagine, the situation was touch and go. (We found out later that there was a flower spectacular on this weekend.)

We had to queue for five minutes to enter the tea room, but the wait was well worth it. The imposing room is panelled in wood, complete with a huge hearth and reed-like ceiling. There were some amazing looking cakes on display. Please don't think less of me readers, but I was came very close to forgetting my Cream Tea Queen responsibilities and tucking into a carrot cake instead.

We were given the choice of plain and fruit scones. To ensure that my reviewing is fair, I went for one of each. They were supplied with a miniature pot of excellent strawberry jam: Wilkin & Sons of Tiptree, Essex. Amazingly, they also came with a petite tub of quality clotted cream: Rodda's of Cornwall.

The sit-down area was next door in a marquee, looking out onto the mansion and gardens. We weren't able to find a seat in the marquee but not to fear, there were a few garden chairs outside from where we soaked up the surrounds and enjoyed the cream tea.

We sat back and poured out our tea (bags, not loose leaf). I have turned into somewhat of a mug snob over the last few months, preferring to drink from slender-rimmed mugs. I have no idea what's brought about this transformation in my personal taste, but readers of a similar disposition should note that the mugs were not the fine bone china that I now hanker to drink out of. My Welsh friends, however, will be pleased to hear that an extra pot of hot water was supplied when requested. As a result we pushed the tea bags to their limit and enjoyed every minute of it!

The scones themselves were delicious. Although they weren't straight out-of-the-oven warm, they were clearly recently baked. After I'd cut them open I gave them my, now signature, prod in the middle. A nice bounce, not dry. They were, what I'd consider to be, the perfect size; neither verging on the width of a £2 coin, nor so large that they could be considered daunting. Lovers of evenly dissipated fruit in their fruit scones should, however, note that the fruit clung to the edge of the scones.

So, all in all a top-notch cream tea; the tea was in copious supply, the scones were bouncy and delicious, the jam and cream were high-quality, and the setting was stunning. To top it off, all of this came for only £4.90! The Cream Tea Queen therefore gives Greys Court a fantastic 9/10, the highest score yet!

As if that wasn't enough, after the excitement of a delicious cream tea we then got to enjoy the grounds of Greys Court itself. On this occasion, pictures speak louder than words:

Thank you Greys Court for a truly delightful afternoon. I now have even more of a reason to visit you and your fellow NT tea rooms in the near future.

Happy scone eating,

The Cream Tea Queen