Yesterday, Saturday the seventh of July 2012, I was asked by a cherry farmer's wife to give them a hand at a local farmer's market in Kent. The farmers' market at Penshurst Place has around 20 stalls selling an assortment of free range meats including vension, locally baked bread, fresh fruit from a local farm shops, barbecued meat, cheeses, chutneys and many other foodstuffs as well as items for the garden that can be planted that day.
For those that don't know Penshurst Place is the family home of the Viscount De L'Isle, which was once owned by Henry VIII, is situated in the West Kent village of Penshurst that lies between two rivers. The village website lists a range of 14 activities and boasts "lovely old timber-framed buildings and converted oast houses" and "traditions such as cricket, still played on one of England's oldest pitches, and the annual village fair are still very much of he community today".
It has been a while since I have been to a farmer's market and I was surprised by the cross-section of the consumers. Both old and young, some with families and push-chairs in tow. I asked, as a way of enticing the customers to stop at our stall of freshly ripe cherries, where they had come from - answers ranged from Penshurst Place itself, the village as well as other local villages in West Kent, the other side of the Dartford Tunnel, Blackheath, even Hong Kong and Australia (although I feel these last two may have been visiting local families).
Penshurst Place Farmers Market has 20 stalls selling free range meats; bread baked locally that morning; cherries from Sandhurst; fresh soft fruit from Groombridge; soft fruit from Maidstone; a wide range of locally produced produce.
It was good to meet up with Ben Dent who is part of The Kent Farmer's Markets Association, as well as being a member of Eurolink, and meet up with a few of the local producers. Thank you for a good, if tiring, day.
No comments:
Post a Comment