Two boathouses, some geese and a Devonshire tea

Melbourne is blessed with a quiet and rather lovely river, and lots of parkland along it, and today we did a mildly touristy thing and visited two of its boathouses - to compare and to sample their wares. They are both popular places with families and groups, but today, being Thursday and not the school holidays they were pretty quiet. Very different from the weekend when they are humming. Today there was just the occasional cyclist, yummy mummy and retired people enjoying a pleasant autumn day by the river.

We began with Studley Park Boathouse in the expensive suburb of Kew. Here we picked a spot right on the river and indulged in toasties and caramel slices from the kiosk. The geese were very interested, but not aggressive about it.

There are three levels of dining here - the restaurant, the café and the kiosk. We did the kiosk, which also offers more substantial things than we had - like pizzas or sausages, or breakfast things. We weren't really there for the food though - just the ambience - and pretty lovely it was, as you can see. If you're adventurous you can hire a boat and row up or down the river - and we did watch one family do this, and also a team of girls putting away their long rowboat - an eight I think. You can also walk along the river of course, and we did go a little way - well across it actually, observing the fishermen on the bank and wondering if they caught anything. I guess there must be fish there - otherwise why would they bother?

What is so lovely about both of these places is that they are more in the middle of built up Melbourne - not quite inches away, but not much more, and yet you would think you were out in the countryside.

And they both have large capacity too - lots of sitting spaces, lots of parking. Anyway - that was Studley Park Boathouse - here seen from the other side of the river.

Fairfield Boathouse is further in to the centre of Melbourne and similar but not the same - maybe a bit less formal? I do know that this is a very busy place at the weekend though. It's buzzing with families and groups having parties then. Here there are also three levels of food, but the outside kiosk was not open today.

Again though, it's a lovely spot, and you can sit right by the river. Here my sister indulged in a Devonshire tea - I'm guessing they had this at Studley Park but I'm not sure.

So Devonshire Tea - or Cream Tea as it is sometimes known. Such a British thing although as far as I can see it has only been made with scones in the twentieth century. Prior to that it was bread - or splits - which are a kind of little bun. I gather Devon and Cornwall are constantly fighting about ownership and they also fight about whether you put the cream on the scone first or the jam. General gourmet opinion seems to be to put the cream on first. They also argue about what kind of jam. I gather the tradition is strawberry, but Nigel Slater for one - prefers plum. Up to you I would say. They also argue about the type of cream - clotted or double. And, surprisingly to me, the gourmets don't seem to like clotted cream - not that we can get that here. Well you probably can somewhere but I've never seen it. And did I mention that the scones have to be plain - no dried fruit or other fancy things please. In the very British parts of Melbourne - the Dandenongs, along the river and the beach and also in certain old-fashioned spots in the city Devonshire teas abound. And they are nice. My sister thought hers was delicious - and it was a very appropriate setting I have to say.