The Devon Scone Company

Richard Hunt and Claire Bennett started this from irritation as much as ambition: too many cream teas served with poor imitations of the real thing. Their answer was to supply the proper ingredients for a quality Devon cream tea wherever you happen to be. Hunt has more than twenty years in hospitality behind him, is a familiar face on the Devon food festival trail, and has hosted the Westcountry Bakery Theatre at the Exeter Festival of South West Food and Drink.

Scones are the core of it, made to be indulgent rather than polite, alongside preserves and, come Christmas, deep filled luxury mince pies with mature mincemeat and a shortcrust biscuit top. Hunt also runs a hospitality consultancy for chefs and restaurant owners, from first-timers to the long established. If you are ordering a cream tea, be warned that the house position is firmly cream first. Catch them at a Devon food festival if you can.