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Bratton Fleming Farmers' Market

The Farmers' Market is usually held on the fourth Saturday of the month in the Village Hall.

How it all began

A Radio 4 Sunday morning Church Service played a large part in my life in 2000. I was listening to a speaker telling of the plight of farmers (this was before the outbreaks of Foot & Mouth disease) Having an ability to organise - my family call this "bossing people around" - I got the germ of an idea. By visiting Loxhore Village Produce Market and Barnstaple Pannier Market, I firmed up my thoughts and started asking people if they would be interested in having a stall at a Farmer's and Local Produce Market, in October 2000.

I was fairly confident of finding stall-holders, but would be have any customers? There is a problem with lack of support in the village, for Coffee Mornings, Jumble Sales and the like. So, initial publicity would be very important. ''Village News" in the Journal gave us coverage, we organised posters and fliers to be distributed to all the local villages where we had any kind of contact, word of mouth had to do the rest.

The first market opened from 10am. to 4pm. A few people wandered in for a look around at 9.50am., with eleven stall-holders and me all holding our breath. Then, just after 10am., they came in their droves.

I realized, that if I was charging the stall-holders a nominal fee, I would need to cover costs some other way. So, I was in the kitchen selling refreshments. Our feet didn't touch to the ground for the next two hours. Then at 12.30 all went quiet, with only dribs and drabs of people coming in until 3pm. when it died completely.

We cleared up, packed up and compared notes. Everyone was pleased with the trade they had done, it was certainly worth while, and "We'll come again next month!!"

With only a break of two months, forced on us by the Foot & Mouth crisis in 2001, we are still functioning very successfully. We usually run on the 4th Saturday of each month, the Village Hall is full of stalls and we have extra stalls outside. Organic meat, vegetables, garden plants, home made cakes, pies, pasties, cheese, clotted cream, home made jams & marmalade are amongst the produce on sale. There are also locally produced greetings cards, a Traidcraft Stall - to remind us that farmers around the world suffer too, Herbal Medicines and jewellery available.

We plan on holding the market for as long as the stall-holders feel it is viable and the customers support us.

The market is now open from 9.30am. until 12 noon, which seems to fit in with everyone's needs.

It is a good social gathering as well as a good outlet for local sellers. We have even produced a good hearty breakfast for three hungry cyclists who were on their way back to Bristol, so our fame is spreading far and wide.

Nan Austin