Woman completes 10-year National Trust scone-eating project

Sarah Merker has sampled a scone at every possible National Trust location in England, Wales and Northern Ireland

A woman from west London has completed a decade-long project to sample a scone at every possible National Trust location.

Sarah Merker, 49, from Isleworth, ate the baked goods at 244 sites across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and ranked every one on her blog.

Her mission was finally completed on Wednesday when she visited the Giant's Causeway in County Antrim.

Ms Merker said the task had been a "very important" part of her life.

Ms Merker decided to end her decade-long project at the Giant's Causeway in memory of her late husband Peter

The marketing director said: "It's all very emotional, it's been a weird experience.

"I don't know what I'd call it - it's more than a hobby. It's taken up a lot of my time and effort over the past 10 years and I'll really miss it."

She shared part of the experience with her husband, Peter, who was diagnosed with cancer in 2016 and died two years later.

The couple visited the Giant's Causeway before they both became National Trust members in 2013, with Ms Merker ending the project at the site as a way to remember her late husband.

"He'd been there for so much of it and obviously I have memories of doing it with him," she said.

"So, for me, it was really important to finish it for him as well - I wanted to make sure I got to the end."

Ms Merker said the perfect scone has to have been made fresh that day

Ms Merker said her 10-year mission had led her to learn the secret to the perfect scone - that "it has to be fresh".

"It takes a lot to ruin a fresh scone," she added. "As long as the scone has been baked that day, you can hardly ever go wrong."

She said that out of the 244 sampled, there were two bad scones, while her favourite was a Christmas pudding scone with brandy butter at Treasurer's House, Yorkshire.

Ms Merker's blog which outlines her results has also been turned into a book.

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