IT'S a tough job but someone had to do it and it took the crème de la crème of the Westcountry catering industry to create a record for the world's largest scone.

As part of a promotion to celebrate Devon Cream Teas this mighty task was taken on by Paul Winterton, general manager at Langage Farm, South Devon and executive chef Richard Hunt of the Grand Hotel, Torquay.

As Paul explained to the Times: 'We took one and a half tonnes of ingredients to create an eight foot diameter scone using 750 kilos of flour, 90 kilos of jams, 120 kilos of Devon clotted cream, 20 kilos of castor sugar and 100 kilos of Devon strawberries.

This being Devon, the cream is slathered onto the scone first followed by the jam.

'We want people to appreciate the Devon Cream Tea and everyone involved will be pressing the case to secure a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) status for the Devon cream tea.'

The Devon Cream Tea is estimated to be worth a staggering £85 billion mark globally and if it wins PDO, it will join foods including Stilton, Single Gloucester, Dovedale and Swaledale cheeses.

Tavistock, he says, can claim to be 'birth place' of the cream tea.

'The Devon Cream Tea,' added Paul, 'can be dated back to 997AD where it was reportedly first served to labourers working on re-building the monastery after it was destroyed by Viking invaders.'

A further Tavistock link is that the Duchess of Bedford, who had a holiday home at what is now the Endsleigh Hotel at Milton Abbot, invented 'afternoon tea' as she became hungry in the afternoon between lunch and dinner, which they ate at 9pm, so she started to have a selection of breads and cakes with tea in the afternoon.

'We are hoping that local businesses in Tavistock take advantage of this connection and do everything they can to promote the great Devon Cream Tea to benefit not just local suppliers of the produce that goes into the tea but also the restaurants, hotel and tearooms that serve it.' added Paul.

If you were wondering what happened to the 'biggest scone in the world' the caterers sold it off to visitors at the stand with the money going to the Devon Air Ambulance Appeal.

If you would like to sign the online petition to make the Devon Cream Tea a Protected Designation of Origin go to the website http://www.langagefarm.com">www.langagefarm.com