I’ve always been a fan of scones – having lived in Devon when I was younger, I am a massive fan of the Devon Cream Tea, which is scones (usually fruit), with strawberry jam, clotted cream and a pot of tea (earl grey for me, please).

It needs to be assembled with the cream on the bottom, then a layer of jam on top. If reversed, it then becomes a Cornwall Cream Tea, which is all wrong. Cornwall is the neighbouring county to Devon and there’s a cream tea rivalry in the south west of England. But I’m a Devon girl at heart, so it’s cream on first all the way!

Another must is making your own scones. Scones are one of those things that HAVE to be fresh – you really need to eat them within 24 hours of making them – and buying them from the supermarket won’t do because the texture of them is much too heavy. Thankfully, scones are easy and quick to make – and need only a few ingedients, so there’s no reason why you should need to buy substandard supermarket efforts.

The recipe below produced the best batch of scones I’ve ever made and if you follow a few tips, you’ll get the best rise and the line around the middle for easy tearing that’s the sign of a great scone.

I actually use plain flour instead of self raising for my scones, but the baking powder ensures plenty of rise. I add sugar to this recipe when I’m making the scones for a cream tea, but you can put anything in – 50g of grated cheese instead makes a brilliant savoury scone! Also, buttermilk gives you a lighter scone – but it’s pretty impossible to find here, so regular milk is fine and it what I used for the scones pictured above.

Makes 6 with a 7cm cutter.

• 225g plain flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 75g unsalted butter (or salted for savoury)
• 2 tbsp caster sugar (leave out for savoury)
• 90ml buttermilk or milk
• 1 beaten egg

Heat the oven to 200c/fan180c/gas6.

Rub the butter into the flour and baking powder with your fingers until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the sugar.

Add the milk and stir just enough to bring together into a dough. Try not to overwork it – you’ll get a lighter scone if you aren’t too heavy handed with the mixing/rolling.

Turn out onto a floured surface and pat out gently with your hands into a circle of around 2-3cm thickness. Cut out your scones. Only press downwards when cutting your scones out – if you twist the cutter, the scones won’t rise as well.

Brush with the beaten egg, put onto a greased/non stick sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes until risen and cooked. Leave to cool before eating.

The scones should be lovely and soft in the middle with a slight crunch on the top. Delicious. And if you’re going to have them with cream, make sure it’s clotted cream. There is no substitute!