The humble scone is nearly always at the centre of some kind of debate – how you pronounce the word ‘scone’ for starters is always a contentious issue.

Is it ‘scone’ like you moan or ‘scone’ like it’s gone? It cuts across social divides. You can’t really tell how posh someone is by how they pronounce the word – that’s a myth. I use both. My grandmother was Scottish so they were always ‘SCOWNs’ when I was growing up but I use ‘SCONs’ now.

So there’s a big issue with what you call them. There’s also this problem with cream or jam first. Apparently, Cornwall does it one way and Devon another way. To be honest, anyone putting jam on top of cream is a social outcast anyway and shouldn’t be allowed to order a cream tea in the first place. Gravity dictates that putting a heavier material on a lighter one is just asking for trouble.

The best cream tea I’ve ever had was in a small tea shop near Lee Abbey in North Devon, not too far away from Lynton and Lynmouth. Maybe it was the sunshine. Maybe it was the view looking down onto the bay below. Maybe it was just a fantastic cream tea!

We make a lot of scones. We always have fruit and tea in both the café and the bakery. On the markets, we tend to have different flavours. At Keswick, we tend to sell plain, fruit, cheese, treacle and stilton and walnut. At the market down in Bowness, we have tried a few new flavours – peach and blueberry for example.

Scones are always popular. People have their own favourites. We get suggestions for new flavours all the time. Maybe we should start a competition for scone of the week and make them each Saturday for people to buy? It’s an idea.

Savoury scones are a big thing too. I think we’ve had a warm cheese scone on the menu at the café since we opened. A lot of people I know like to have jam and butter on a cheese scone (is it a Cumbrian thing?). We’ve made jalapeno scones as well. Always useful to catch someone unawares as they take a big bite just before you warn them!

It’s a versatile food. It’s a relatively cheap food. It’s everyone’s summer favourite.

What’s your favourite? Let us know and we might just make it for you.