The New Inn, Clovelly

Having been looking forward to clotted cream, scones and cider for the last mile of our walk (particularly when walking - or was that scrambling - up a certain steep hill...), I was rather, erm, underwhelmed when we walked into The New Inn in Clovelly.

Having made a beeline for the bar and waited for the barman to notice me so I could ask whether they served cream teas, he seemed a little surprised that I was asking such an outrageous question - silly me - and then told me grumpily that he would have a look when he'd served some other people.

First grumble - why bother looking at me and raising his eyebrows as if to say 'can I help?', when he wasn't ready to help, and secondly, over a bank holiday weekend and with an Ale& Cider festival on (not that we saw much evidence of that), surely you would know whether you were serving cream teas or not.

Anyway. All that was of course forgivable (and is really just very niggly of me anyway...). One thing isn't though - 'clotted cream' that is NOT CLOTTED CREAM AT ALL. I have to sit down as I write this, the memory is too painful. Fake, non-clotted cream is just a huge anticlimax when you're looking forward to breaking through the crust of the real thing. And while I'm at it, the place could've done with a bit of atmosphere. Or at least a CD player that was playing, rather than sputtering out random bits of song and then stopping.

Plus side - dog friendly, if you sit near the door, and also it's halfway up the hill out of Clovelly! - You're almost there!