National Cream Tea Day: why cream teas may have originated in Devon

It's National Cream Tea Day today. The mouth-watering combination of scones, jam and clotted cream has tempted visitors to Devon for centuries - and historians say the cream tea originated in the county.

It's believed the Earl of Devon's ancestor Ordulf created the original cream tea over a thousand years ago.

It happened after the Benedictine Abbey in Tavistock was badly damaged by a band of marauding Vikings. The task of restoring it was undertaken by Ordulf. HOrdulf was helped by local workers and to reward them the monks fed them with bread, clotted cream and strawberry preserves. And so the Devon cream tea was born!

The cream teas were so popular, the monks continued to serve them to passing travellers.

For the perfect cream tea, you need a freshly baked, warm scone using a recipe made with buttermilk.

But debate still rages about whether you should spread the cream on first, or the jam.