Amongst all the sales of tea, coffee and ice cream in the cafés, staff and volunteers have calculated they have baked and sold 25,000 scones in the last year. Not bad for two small on-site kitchens.

Having totted up the scone totals, staff are in the process of working out how much flour has been used based on a batch of twelve using 675 grams of flour and how big an area they would cover if laid side by side on the two reserves.

The cafés are noted for their themed varieties of scones throughout the year: strawberries and cream during Wimbledon fortnight, sprouts and pigs in blankets at Christmas, pumpkin for Halloween, sticky toffee for Bonfire Night, ham and mustard for Father’s Day and a spicy variety for St George’s Day as a nod to his dragon.

The Northumberlandia scone is raspberry and white chocolate whilst the original cheese and sultana scones at the  Lookout Café at the Hauxley Wildlife Discovery Centre are still a big favourite with visitors - many of whom sit down there every week to enjoy their scone and the view of the lake through the window.

There’s even a special Lloyd of the Flies currant scone to celebrate the interactive Lloyd of the Flies Bug Hunt that is running at the Blagdon Lane site throughout the summer.

Many of the twenty-five thousand were baked by Lookout Café Assistant Yvonne Dixon from Amble who recently passed away. The queen of the kitchen, Yvonne was able to drop a few ingredients into a mixing bowl and turn them into something unique.

Stephanie Craig, Northumberland Wildlife Trust’s Cafe & Retail Manager says:

“We know that home-made scones are off the menu at some visitor centres in the region, but if we did that, many of our regular visitors would be most upset. We have over fifty scone recipes in our folder but if anybody has any ideas for flavours we would love to hear them, so come to Hauxley or Northumberlandia and tell us. 

“The only thing we all differ on is whether you put the jam on first or the cream on the plain variety.”