Inspired by The Great British Bake Off on the BBC we've been cooking scones to eat with cream and jam for the classic cream tea.

Using Paul Hollywood's scone recipe these were perfect with our recently made raspberry jam.

Next time we'll try serving these with rhubarb and ginger jam and blackberry and apple jam.

As the pickle and preserve website has been going for over a year now I thought it would be interesting to see what the most popular recipes have been amongst visitors.

So here goes the top five in ascending order:

At number 5, and very apt for this time of year is Rhubarb Chutney.

At number 4, well worth making yourself,  Pickled Onions.

At number 3, lovely on toast, Rhubarb and Ginger Jam.

At number 2, a modern classic, Red Onion Marmalade.

And the surprise entry at number 1, the perfect accompaniment to the nations favorite dish, Lime Pickle.

With 7500 views between them that's an awful lot of jars of preserve.....

image source kilmerhouse.com

I came across a lovely story about a lady called Moira Starkey in the local paper today.

Moira has raised almost £7,000 for Breast Cancer Haven from a variety of methods including from selling jams and pickle.

Well done Moira that's an awful lot of preserving!

It's not clear if this rise has been  sparked by the recession, or a renewed interest in the benefits of growing your own and living the good life.

Interesting that Lakeland have seen a large rise in the sales of the novice friendly Jam Making Machine, maybe a sign that  a new batch of consumers are wanting the satisfaction of home made preserves. I wonder if it gets good results?

It's also great to hear that soft fruit growers are reporting bumper crops, definitely something I've noticed with the gooseberries in the garden,  I shall be making use of them imminently.