I wish I would have taken more pictures of the actual Cheddar Gorge, as it is a beautiful place. Located in the Mendip Hills near the village of (what else?) Cheddar, it is the largest gorge in the UK. It is also the site of the Cheddar Caves, in which, in 1903, the oldest complete human skeleton in Britain was found (and dubbed, are you ready? "Cheddar Man"). This is all quite interesting, however, the most important thing to know about Cheddar is that it is where that wonderful cheese originated. Cheddar is the most popular cheese variety in the UK and has been produced since at least 1170. The caves of the Cheddar Gorge provide the ideal environmental qualities for the aging of Cheddar cheese which can require as long as 15 months to produce a very strong or "vintage" cheese. Of course there are several cheese shops in the gorge that dispense a variety of Cheddars, some aged in the nearby caves.
Two thumbs up for Cheddar.While in Cheddar, we had the distinctive pleasure of being hosted by Ron to a "cream tea" at the local pub. Cream tea is an English tradition (going back at least to the eleventh century) involving tea (of course -- with milk) served with scones, clotted cream and jam. We settled around a table at the pub and waited.
Here's Grif biding his time.
Eventually, a large tray of tea, milk, scones clotted cream and jam was brought out. Ron instructed us on the proper way to build the treat: Start with half of a warm scone, apply a liberal dose of clotted cream and top it off with the strawberry jam.Yummmm!
Grif is overcome with his scone
Lauren liked the scones but was less enthusiastic about the clotted cream.
First try on getting a group shot by setting the camera on a table and using the timer.
2 comments:
Your trip looks like fun! Did you try the scones from Marks & Spencer? They have the cream and strawberry jam injected right into the center of them. I could eat an entire tray of four. Ahhh, heaven.
I can't tell you how much fun this trip was. It was just the best. I am sorry to say we did not sample the Marks & Spencer scones. They sound fantastic. We did get quite addicted to the M&S salt & pepper crisps, which we consumed in a futile effort to break our addiction to the McVities. I'm afraid it's all just a vicious cycle. Makes a person crave a Fosters. At the Weston. Sigh.
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