The demise of the scone?

Ok, I admit we enjoy a wee cup of tea and a scone when were out on our walking excursions. I have to report that, from our recent experiences, the humble scone is no more, replaced by a lump of microwaved dough    A recent example, at 5p short of £4, arrived partly raw, with a tiny catering pack of jam and a small pool of creme fraiche.  

Not much better are sandwiches (apparently only available as paninis or wraps now) which come with crisps from a packet opened several days ago and a side salad of multicoloured lettuce, bits of cucumber and a solitary cherry tomato (if you are lucky )

I've spoken to the staff in several of these places and it appears that it's me who is being unreasonable in my expectations. Just to set the balance, we've visited some really good places and I never leave without telling those providing the service that we've enjoyed the food.

In the days when we were skint, we used the pack a picnic. We've decided to revive the practice, not because we're skint but because we're fed up getting taken for mugs 

The last time we toured Scotland, we didn't bother with scones (skowns for posh folk) no.... we enjoyed what seemed to be the ubiquitous fare available with a cuppa......I give you.......
Tiffin! Lovely chocolate, juicy raisins and crunchy biscuit based snack, truly scrumptious.

But interestingly, nuevogirl has (for some unknown reason I'm not even going to enquire about) started baking home-made scones again. With delicious Welsh butter and (sorry to say) French Strawberry Conserve (thank you Mr. Morrison) I'm rather looking forward to our afternoon teas lately.  

Oh, sorry, this seems to be the Grumpy Old Men's Club.....I'll get me coat.  

The best scone we've had recently was in a tea shop in Tintagel. Not knowing what was coming we ordered 2 and they were enormous, so much so that we had to struggle out of the shop and although this was morning we didn't eat for the rest of the day. They should have come with a red health warning and an NHS club card. This combined with being able to stay over in a car park for a few days made for a very good break there.
Rich..

Tony, if your on Bute ,head for Etterick bay tea rooms, everything is home baked and the scones are to die for, after a bacon baggy of course.
Boaby

Thanks Boaby, bit too far from Markinch   To be fair, we've found some half decent places. They are often off the beaten (tourist) track, but not always. We just had three or four places in succession serving up poor fare, with what seems like catering pack frozen "scones " defrosted in the microwave.

Askit wrote:Thanks Boaby, bit too far from Markinch   To be fair, we've found some half decent places. They are often off the beaten (tourist) track, but not always. We just had three or four places in succession serving up poor fare, with what seems like catering pack frozen "scones " defrosted in the microwave.

Tony, your in the right place for crackin big "fudge doughnuts", carn't remember if the wife got them from a local bakery,or the COOP in Markinch, the biggest I've seen and they fill the stop.
Enjoy Fife, are you heading for Stonehaven.
Boaby

Called in Dunelm today and SWMBO says fancy a fruit scone. Give them 8/10 but the daft part was it was cheaper to have a cream tea (scone, butter, clotted cream, jam and Coffee (or Tea)) than a scone and butter and coffee.

burlingtonboaby wrote:

Askit wrote:Thanks Boaby, bit too far from Markinch   To be fair, we've found some half decent places. They are often off the beaten (tourist) track, but not always. We just had three or four places in succession serving up poor fare, with what seems like catering pack frozen "scones " defrosted in the microwave.

Tony, your in the right place for crackin big "fudge doughnuts", carn't remember if the wife got them from a local bakery,or the COOP in Markinch, the biggest I've seen and they fill the stop.
Enjoy Fife, are you heading for Stonehaven.
Boaby

If you're a fan of fudge doughnuts, the very best in Fife are made by Fisher & Donaldson - they're famous for them!  
http://fisheranddonaldson.com/famous-fudge-doughnut
They have two places in Cupar and one in St Andrews; the latter is worth the trip if you want a decent fish supper, Tail End or Cromers both beat Anstruther hands down in my book.

We have lots of F&C shops here in Bridlington Roger,theymay not be up to the standards of Fifes f&c shop?  however our local shop serves up a really good Haddock and Chips.(award winning, even Camellia sampled some)
Fifes not on our route this year, will have to do with. Buckie softie chip roll.
Boaby

burlingtonboaby wrote:

Askit wrote:Thanks Boaby, bit too far from Markinch   To be fair, we've found some half decent places. They are often off the beaten (tourist) track, but not always. We just had three or four places in succession serving up poor fare, with what seems like catering pack frozen "scones " defrosted in the microwave.

Tony, your in the right place for crackin big "fudge doughnuts", carn't remember if the wife got them from a local bakery,or the COOP in Markinch, the biggest I've seen and they fill the stop.
Enjoy Fife, are you heading for Stonehaven.
Boaby

Heading home after this, out trip was delayed by a family bereavement so we've had to curtail the planned route.

We heard the chippie at Anstruther changed hands with a local fisherman paying £1.5m for the business. He got no money from us as we had our fish and chips in The Haven at Cellardyke with a few beers. I think the place your thinking of is Greens in Markinch, my cholesterol went up by just looking at the display 

My condolences Tony, have a safe return home.
Boaby

Thanks Boaby, it  appears the fudge doughnuts are from the Carlton Coffee shop. We've got a couple for our afternoon tea...........purely for research purposes you understand 

Tony, sorry for your loss.
Thanks for the info on The Haven at Cellardyke, will give that a try when we're next at our place just along the road in Crail.
If you have a chance, then do try to nip over to Fisher & Donaldson to try their fudge doughnuts, purely for further research purposes of course. 
Meanwhile I'll be sure to try Carlton's ones next time, for comparison.  

Askit wrote:Thanks Boaby, it  appears the fudge doughnuts are from the Carlton Coffee shop. We've got a couple for our afternoon tea...........purely for research purposes you understand 

Wife carn't remember the shop/tearoom see bought them from, I just remember the size of them and the taste, butterscotch fudge, we used to get FD ,s from the Electric bakery in Rothesay, but those one are miles better.
Looking forward to our trip this summer and Mctinosh Strathspey micro wave meals, ideal for the wee fridge and microwave.
Boaby

burlingtonboaby wrote:We have lots of F&C shops here in Bridlington Roger,theymay not be up to the standards of Fifes f&c shop?  however our local shop serves up a really good Haddock and Chips.(award winning, even Camellia sampled some)
Fifes not on our route this year, will have to do with. Buckie softie chip roll.
Boaby

Do the local places in Bridlington skin the fish, Boaby?
Many places in the south don't and apart from the fact it leaves half of the batter inedible it also makes the fish greasy, so we seldom bother with F&C when we're down here in Berkshire. Also it's usually cod which although bigger fillets doesn't have much flavour compared with haddock, to my taste.

rogerblack wrote:Tony, sorry for your loss.
Thanks for the info on The Haven at Cellardyke, will give that a try when we're next at our place just along the road in Crail.
If you have a chance, then do try to nip over to Fisher & Donaldson to try their fudge doughnuts, purely for further research purposes of course. 
Meanwhile I'll be sure to try Carlton's ones next time, for comparison.  

Thanks Roger. We've eaten a couple of times in the Haven as it's handy for the Silverdyke site and we've been pretty happy with the fare. It gets busy so sometimes it's prudent to book.

We walked to Crail and back (not for the first time), nice place (apart from the scones in somewhere that shall remain nameless   ). We got talking to a gift shop owner on the main street who was having her door replaced because of an attempted break in. Not sure what they were after, birthday balloons, a Crail tea towel or perhaps a pottery puffin 

rogerblack wrote:

burlingtonboaby wrote:We have lots of F&C shops here in Bridlington Roger,theymay not be up to the standards of Fifes f&c shop?  however our local shop serves up a really good Haddock and Chips.(award winning, even Camellia sampled some)
Fifes not on our route this year, will have to do with. Buckie softie chip roll.
Boaby

Do the local places in Bridlington skin the fish, Boaby?
Many places in the south don't and apart from the fact it leaves half of the batter inedible it also makes the fish greasy, so we seldom bother with F&C when we're down here in Berkshire. Also it's usually cod which although bigger fillets doesn't have much flavour compared with haddock, to my taste.

Hi Roget
The Pride of Bridlington on Quay road and Fish & Chips at 149 (149 Marton road) are the best we have tasted ( both award winners in the past), don't know of any that don't skin the fish completely.
Both chippies sell different portion sizes, I can only eat a "golden years portion " (small) these days,beautiful white Haddock and golden chips ( local spuds)

Showing the French how it's done... proper scones freshly baked in our Symbol in Burgandy.

Askit wrote:Thanks Roger. We've eaten a couple of times in the Haven as it's handy for the Silverdyke site and we've been pretty happy with the fare. It gets busy so sometimes it's prudent to book.

We walked to Crail and back (not for the first time), nice place (apart from the scones in somewhere that shall remain nameless   ). We got talking to a gift shop owner on the main street who was having her door replaced because of an attempted break in. Not sure what they were after, birthday balloons, a Crail tea towel or perhaps a pottery puffin 

We were in Crail when the mini-crimewave hit.  The gift shop you mentioned would be Shell's. It used to be the Post Office but when the former Post Master retired, Michelle who was the assistant didn't want to take on the Post Office duties but kept it going and boosted the gift & card side.  The same night, the chip shop door was smashed and they also tried to break into Penman the butchers but the occupants of the flat above heard the noise and the perpetrators absconded, as they say.

Quite unusual for Crail although my wife volunteers in the little heritage museum and can't believe how much stuff is pinched from there, both saleable stock and artifacts. 

Have you ever stayed at the Sauchope Links campsite in Crail, just the other side from Roome Bay on the continuation of the Fife Coastal Path?  It's a great location with pitches right on the sea frontage, although those get booked up early during holiday periods.

That's the shop, we spoke to her for a wee while. No we've never stayed there but it's maybe one for the future. 

Sounds like there were visitors intent on  making mischief, it an be quite unsettling for a wee community. I'm rarely surprised by what some folk will pinch but thankfully it's still a small minority who do.

I wonder whether the Tintagel cafe was where we had the second best scones ever. Best ones are made by 'er in doors!

Come on grumpy old men this thread is far too positive. Why aren't scones as big as they used to be and cream is now white not yellow, and don't even start me on which goes first cream or jam. As one born in Devon but with Cornish ancestry there is only one right way and that's mine!!

Must have crispy outer and soft, warm, fluffy inner. Cream first without a doubt and clotted best. Quite partial to a cheese version with butter of course.

Sorry, jam first........it's the law 

For me, if it's clotted cream then that goes on first as would butter. If it's whipped cream then jam first so you can pile more cream on. If it's squirty cream then it goes in the bin!
But each to their own, do whatever YOU prefer and let no-one else impose their preferences on you.